LIBRARY    OF    THE    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,     N.    J. 
PRESENTED  BY 

Mr.  Hoel  La^Trence  McQueen 

Division.. .Jl)  w?.  r    i  O 
Sectiofi ;.^^.^ 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

IN   THE  LIGHT  OF   MODERN    RESEARCH 


PUBLISHER'S  NOTE 

For  the  right  use  of  Dr.  Paterson  Smyth's  famous  series  of 
books  on  the  Bible,  whose  circulation  is  counted  in  hundreds  of 
thousands,  it  is  suggested  that  they  be  read  in  the  following  order: 

I.  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING. 
In  the  Light  of  Modem  Research. 

a.  HOW  WE   GOT  OUR  BIBLE. 

Telling  How  the  Bible  Came  Down  to  Us. 

3.  THE  OLD   DOCUMENTS   AND  THE  NEW  BIBLE. 

The  Story  of  the  Rabbis  and  the  Jewish  Manuscripts. 

4.  HOW   GOD   INSPIRED   THE    BIBLE. 

A  Study  of  Inspiration. 

5.  HOW  TO  READ   THE  BIBLE. 

The  Divine  Library. 


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THE 

BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 


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■.V 


IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  MODERN  RESEARCH 


^ 


BY 


J.  PATERSON  SMYTH,  B.D.  Litt.D.,  D.C.U 

Archdeacon  of  St.  Andrew's,  Montreal,  Late  Professor  of 
Pastoral  Theologv/in  the  University  of  Dublin 

Author  of  "How  We  Got  Our  Bible,"  "The  Old  Documents  and 
the  New  Bible"    "  The  Gospel  of  the  Hereafter"  etc. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW    YORK 

JAMES   POTT  &   COMPANY 

1914 


Copyrighted,  1914 

BT 

JAMES    POTT   &   CO. 


CONTENTS 

PROLOGUE 

VAGI 

I.    The  Church  and  the  Bible      ....         9 
II.    The  Appeal  of  the  Bible 20 

III.     CftlTICISM   AND   THE   BiBLB         .....  $5 

THE  MAKING  OF  THE  OLD  TESTA- 

MENT 


I.    The  Lost  Library .  47 

II.    Some  Contents  of  the  Lost  Library   ...  55 

III.  Bibles  before  the  Bible       .....  S3 

IV.  The  Recovery  of  the  Lost  Bibles     .       .      «  98 
V.    The  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament   .      .      .  xo6 

VI.    The  Completed  Jewish  Bible     ....  124 

THE   APOCRYPHA 

The  Apocryphal  Books .  141 

The  Apocrypha  in  the  Jewish  Bible    ....  147  ■; 

The  Apocrypha  in  the  Christian  Church       .      .  153, 

the  making  of  the  new  testa- 

MENT 

I.    The  New  Testament  in  the  Making     .      .  x^S' 

II.    The  Canon  of  the  New  Testament        .      .  191 


PART  I 

PROLOGUE 


PROLOGUE 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  BIBLE 


How  the     Recently  a  thoughtful,  devout  lay- 
Church      man  said  to  the  writer,  "I  never  read 
formed  the  the  Old  Testament  now,  as  I  feel  that 
^^^^®*        the  results  of  modern  scholarship  have 
entirely    upset    for   me    its    foundations    as    an 
inspired  book." 

This  is  a  very  dangerous  misunderstanding 
and  unfortunately  a  widespread  one.  It  is  futile 
to  hide  our  heads  in  the  sand  and  imagine  that 
people  are  not  disturbed  about  it.  And  it  is 
equally  futile  to  decry  the  critical  studies  which 
have  caused  the  disturbance.  For  our  best  Chris- 
tian scholars  are  now  agreed  that  the  main 
central  results  of  critical  scholarship  have  come 
to  stay. 

The  aim  of  this  book  is  to  arouse  interest  and 

0 


10  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

remove  misunderstanding  by  telling  the  story  o£ 
the  making  of  the  Bible  simply  and  frankly  in 
the  light  of  modern  scholarship.  For  it  is  a 
very  interesting  and  helpful  story.  There  is 
nothing  really  disquieting  in  it.  Nay,  rather, 
when  we  have  got  over  the  disturbance  caused 
by  shifting  our  point  of  view,  it  should  make  the 
Bible  for  us  a  more  living  throbbing  human 
presentation  of  God.  People  talk  of  the  Bible 
coming  down  from  its  pedestal  as  a  result  of 
modern  research.  Perhaps  in  a  sense  it  is  true. 
Old  classic  legends  tell  of  the  young  sculptor 
who  carved  his  statue  of  surpassing  beauty  and 
then,  as  he  gazed  at  it  on  its  pedestal,  fell  in 
love  with  the  work  of  his  own  hands.  He  prayed 
to  the  gods  to  give  life  to  his  creation  and  lol 
as  he  prayed  came  stirring  breath  and  colour,  and 
at  length  it  came  down  into  his  arms,  a  living, 
throbbing  woman  to  be  his  joy  and  companion 
and  comfort  in  his  daily  life.  If  the  fuller  light 
which  has  fallen  on  the  story  of  the  Bible  should 
tend  in  any  degree  to  bring  it  down  from  the  con- 
ventional pedestal  on  which  verbal  inspiration 
and  such  like  theories  have  placed  it,  may  it  not 
be  to  bring  it  closer  to  our  hearts,  and  make  us 
feel  more  truly  behind  it  the  real,  living,  throb- 
bing spirit  of  God,  who  inspired  it? 

The  story  of  the  making  of  the  Bible  is  a 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  BIBLE         11 

very  different  thing  from  the  story  of  how  we 
got  our  Bible,  which  in  our  day  has  been  told 
by  many  writers  In  popular  form.  This  latter 
begins  with  the  early  manuscripts  of  our  present 
Scriptures  and  traces  their  history  down  through 
the  centuries  till  they  appear  In  the  printed  col- 
lection of  books  which  we  now  call  the  Bible. 
But  the  mind  naturally  gropes  further  back — 
and  the  recent  disquiet  about  Higher  Criticism 
adds  force  to  Its  questionings.  We  want  to  know: 
How  did  we  originally  get  this  collection  of 
books,  history  and  biography  and  letters  and 
sermons  and  poetry  and  drama?  When  and 
where  was  the  ultimate  beginning  of  them?  Had 
they  any  existence  before  they  were  written  in 
the  Bible?  Who  wrote  them?  Who  collected 
them?  Who  selected  them?  By  what  test  were 
they  selected  out  of  the  literature  of  the  time? 
For  there  was  a  wider  literature.  Other  books  be- 
side these  were  written  by  "holy  men  of  old,''  both 
in  Old  Testament  and  New  Testament  times. 
How  does  It  happen  that  these  particular  books 
and  no  other  should  be  regarded  as  specially 
inspired  and  collected  into  an  authoritative 
Bible? 


§  2.  It  will  simplify  the  answer  If  It  be  kept 


12  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

clearly  in  mind  that  there  are  two  stages  In  the 
making  of  the  Bible. 

First.  The  gradual  growth  of  a  religious 
lierature. 

Second.  The  selection  or  acceptance  or  recog- 
nition of  certain  parts  of  that  literature  as 
authoritative  and  inspired  Scripture. 

These  stages  must  be  kept  clearly,  distinct, 
and  always  there  must  be  kept  prominently  in 
mind  the  thought  of  a  religious  community  behind 
them.  The  growth  of  a  religious  literature  sug- 
gests the  thought  of  a  religious  community  in 
which  it  grew.  The  selection  of  any  literature 
to  make  into  a  Bible  implies  that  there  must 
have  been  behind  that  literature  a  religious  com- 
munity to  select  it.  That  goes  without  saying. 
It  is  impossible  to  discuss  the  subject  at  all  until 
we  recognize  the  fact  that  the  Bible  does  not 
stand  alone.  A  divine  society,  divinely  formed 
and  guided  and  inspired,  stands  behind  it.  In 
this  divine  society  it  grew  from  small  beginnings 
away  far  back  in  dim  antiquity.  By  this  divine 
society  it  was  selected  and  guarded  and  trans- 
mitted. The  Bible  is  the  Book  of  the  Church 
and  the  question  of  its  growth  and  formation  is 
quite  an  impossible  one  if  it  be  thought  of  apart 
from  the  background  of  the  Church. 

The  Church  stands  behind  the  Bible.     The 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  BIBLE        18 

Jewish  Church  stands  behind  the  Old  Testament. 
The  Christian  Church  stands  behind  the  New 
Testament.  The  law  and  the  prophets  and  the 
psalms  did  not  drop  down  from  heaven  promiscu- 
ously into  the  world.  God  selected  a  certain 
community,  a  certain  religious  society  In  which 
these  books  grew  and  were  written  and  selected 
and  preserved  and  transmitted  for  the  world's 
good.  Our  Lord  did  not  first  give  us  the  Gospels 
and  Epistles  and  then  appoint  apostles  and  dls- 
ciples  to  lecture  about  them.  He  first  founded 
a  divine  society,  the  Church,  and  at  His  Ascen- 
sion  He  left  to  the  world  not  the  Gospels  and 
Epistles  but  this  divine  society  with  its  fellow- 
ship and  its  mysterious,  spirit-guided  life  and 
afterwards,  as  the  occasion  arose,  the  members  of 
this  divine  society  were  inspired  to  write  the 
Gospels  and  Epistles. 

;  *There  is  no  true  antithesis  between  the 
Church  and  the  Bible.  The  Bible  is  really  the 
voice  of  the  Church  in  its  first  and  greatest  age. 
However  much  and  however  rightly  we  may  ele- 
vate the  authority  of  Prophets  and  Wise  Men 
and  Apostles  that  authority  does  not  belong  to 
them  either  as  speaking  or  writing  in  isolation. 
They  are  always  in  closest  touch  with  the  Church 
of  their  day,  and  they  draw  spiritual  sustenance 
from  the  contact — even  though  they  give  it  back 


14  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

in  redoubled  measure.  .  .  .  Inspiration  should  be 
thought  of  as  acting  through  (the  Church)  here 
weakly,  there  strongly,  but  yet  in  different  degrees 
permeating  the  whole."^ 


§  3.  This  then  is  the  first  step  in  the  making 
of  the  Bible.  God  in  His  loving  purpose  for  the 
world's  blessing  and  a  good  selected  through  His 
divine  providence  a  community  of  men  in  which 
His  Holy  Spirit  should  especially  act,  not  for  their 
sakes  alone  but  for  the  sake  of  the  whole  world. 
In  this  community  both  in  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment times  was  an  all-pervading  sense  of  God's 
presence  and  rule.  In  It  arose  prophets  and 
psalmists  and  apostles  and  teachers  who  in  vari- 
ous degrees  felt  strongly  the  religious  impulse  to 
help  life  upward.  They  were  not  all  of  the  sam.e 
level — some  were  ordinary  commonplace  good 
men — some  had  a  very  high  inspiration,  a  very 
deep  intuition  of  the  grandeur  of  righteousness, 
of  the  hand  of  God  behind  all  history.  Thus 
there  arose  a  religious  literature  and  history.  In 
this  literature  and  history  certain  parts  stood  out 
more  prominently,  partly  through  great  authors' 
names,  mainly  through  the  gradual  popular  recog- 
nition of  higher  spiritual  values.  Thus  came  a 
^Sanday,  Inspiration.    Preface  to  third  edition. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  BIBLE        IS 

gradual,  half-unconscious  selection  of  wHat 
seemed  highest  and  best — what  most  appealed  to 
the  highest  and  best  in  men,  what  they  felt  con- 
vinced in  the  deep  recesses  of  their  soul  to  be 
the  expression  of  the  mind  of  God.  And  this 
selection  is  the  Bible. 

Not  all  the  utterances  of  patriarch,  or 
prophet,  or  psalmist  found  a  place  in  the  Old 
Testament.  Not  all  the  lives  of  Jesus  or  writings 
of  apostolic  days  appear  in  the  New  Testament. 
By  the  silent,  mysterious  guiding  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  the  Church  of  God  in  Old  Testament 
and  New  Testament  days  slowly  and  gradually 
formed  the  collection  of  books  which  we  now 
call  the  Bible. 


§  4.  In  a  very  real  sense  then,  the  statement 
is  true  that  the  Church  formed  the  Bible.  But 
we  must  not  misunderstand  the  statement.  It  does 
not  mean  that  the  Jewish  or  Christian  Church  on 
some  definite  occasion,  on  Its  own  authority,  offi- 
cially selected  from  its  literature  certain  books 
and  decided  that  they  were  to  be  regarded  as 
inspired  and  authoritative.  On  the  other  hand, 
neither  does  It  mean  that  they  had  only  to  collect 
and  safeguard  certain  books  which  from  their 
ultimate  beginnings  stood  apart  from  all  their 


16  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

other  literature,  or  whose  divine  origin  was  some- 
how miraculously  guaranteed.  There  is  an  old 
Church  fable  that  at  the  time  of  the  Council  of 
Nice  all  the  books  were  placed  near  the  altar  with 
a  prayer  that  God  would  decide  between  them, 
and  that  Immediately  the  true  canonical  books  of 
Scripture  jumped  up  on  the  altar  and  the  others 
remained  quietly  on  the  floor! 

Some  such  process  might  fit  In  with  popular 
notions  about  Scripture.  But  the  divine  method 
was  very  different  and  here  I  call  careful  atten- 
tion to  this  method.  Not  suddenly,  by  some  start- 
ling miracle — not  officially,  by  some  decision  of 
a  council,  but  slowly,  gradually,  half-uncon- 
sclously,  by  the  quiet  Influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
on  the  minds  of  men  In  the  Church,  was  the  canon 
of  Scripture  settled.  "The  Bible  was  formed  even 
as  the  Church  Itself  was  formed  by  that  Holy 
Spirit  which  was  the  life  of  both.'*  The  Bible 
and  the  Church  were  correlative  to  each  other. 
Neither  was  the  Church  without  the  Bible  nor 
the  Bible  without  the  Church.  The  Holy  Spirit, 
who  touched  the  highest  consciences  In  the  com- 
munity to  utter  noble  teaching,  touched  also  the 
general  conscience  of  that  community  to  dis- 
criminate between  higher  and  lower — to  appre- 
ciate and  love  and  treasure  especially  what  was 
highest  and  most  valuable  to  Its  religious  life. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  BIBLE        17 

The  formation  of  this  collection  of  documents  was 
gradual.  It  was  decided  unconsciously  by  usage 
rather  than  by  criticism  or  deliberate  choice.  It 
was  no  verdict  of  any  one  gathering  of  men  that 
formed  the  Bible.  It  was  the  slow,  accumulating 
verdict  of  the  ages. 


§  5.  Does  It  seem  derogatory  to  Holy  Scrip- 
ture to  say  that  it  was  the  judgment  of  men  that 
made  certain  books  into  a  Bible?  At  any  rate 
It  was  so.  There  Is  a  mysterious  upward  look  In 
poor  fallen  humanity  made  in  God's  image, 
touched  by  God's  spirit.  'We  needs  must  love 
the  highest  when  we  see  it,"  even  though  we  may 
refuse  to  follow  it.  It  was  this  response  to  the 
highest,  specially  quickened  in  a  community  under 
God's  peculiar  guidance,  which  made  the  Church 
recognize  and  appreciate  and  reverence  and  pre- 
serve certain  books  which  seemed  instinct  with 
the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  making  of  the  Bible  was  the  act  of  men. 
But  surely  It  was  none  the  less  for  that  the  act 
of  God  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  was  really  His  divine 
working  that  separated  certain  books  for  the  per- 
petual Instruction  of  the  Church.  But  the  mode 
of  His  working  was  by  the  quickening  and  guid- 
ing of  human  souls,  that  they  should  instinctively 


18  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

love  what  was  most  divine,  what  was  most  stim- 
ulating and  helpful  to  their  religious  life;  that 
by  a  divine  impulse  men  should  gradually  arrive 
at  a  general  recognition  of  a  certain  set  of  writ- 
ings as  authoritative  and  inspired  Scripture. 
Thus  the  Bible  formed  itself  by  a  power  inherent 
In  it.  It  won  its  own  way.  It  built  its  own  throne. 
All  that  was  best  in  human  consciousness  recog- 
nized its  right  to  rule  over  men.  Its  position, 
we  repeat,  rests  on  no  external  authority,  on  no 
sentence  of  council  or  synod  or  prophet  or  saint, 
but  on  a  gradual  choice  by  a  Church  guided  by 
the  Spirit  of  God. 


§  6.  It  Is  quite  true,  as  we  shall  see  later,  that 
the  representatives  of  the  Jewish  Church  officially 
pronounced  their  verdict  as  to  what  books  should 
be  in  the  Old  Testament  canon  of  Scripture.  Yes, 
but  when?  Somewhere  about  the  time  of  our 
Lord,  after  the  accepted  books  had  been  for  cen- 
turies recognized  as  of  God.  It  Is  quite  true  that 
the  Christian  Church  collected  certain  New  Testa- 
ment writings  to  form  their  Bible.  But  when? 
After  they  had  been  for  three  hundred  years 
accepted  as  the  God-given  guide  of  the  Church. 

Surely  no  one  would  say  that  the  Books  owe 
their  position  to  the  fact  that  the  Church  thus 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  BIBLE         19 

formally  recognized  and  collected  them  into  a 
Bible,  any  more  than  one  would  say  that  the 
works  of  Shakespeare,  or  Browning,  or  Tenny- 
son owe  their  position  to  the  fact  that  we  have 
placed  them  in  our  collections  of  standard  English 
literature.  The  books  of  Scripture  asserted  their 
own  position.  It  was  not  the  Church's  collecting 
them  into  a  Bible  that  made  them  of  authority 
but  rather  the  fact  of  their  possessing  authority 
made  them  be  collected  into  a  Bible. 
What  gave  them  this  authority? 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  APPEAL  OF  THE  BIBLE 


What    gave    them    this    authority? 

The  Appeal  \Yj^y    should    any    set    of    old    docu- 

Proohets     ^^^^s    have   been    for   thousands    of 

years  accepted  as  of  divine  origin  and 
yielded  to  by  men  as  an  authority  to  guide  their 
conduct  and  impose  on  them  commands  often  dis- 
agreeable to  themselves?  Remember  that  they 
were  isolated  utterances  often  with  centuries  in- 
tervening between  them,  coming  from  various 
authors  of  various  characters  to  various  sets  of 
people  under  various  circumstances — that  they 
originated  in  small  beginnings  centuries  behind 
our  present  Bible — that  in  many  cases  we  do  not 
know  their  origin,  or  their  authors,  or  by  what 
processes  they  assumed  their  present  Torm — that 
they  were  marked  off  by  no  miracle,  nor  guar- 
anteed by  any  formal  decision  of  any  external 
authority.    And  yet  somehow  we  can  never  reach 

20 


THE  APPEAL  OF  THE  BIBLE  21 

back  in  history  to  a  time  when  they  were  not 
reverenced  as  in  some  degree  at  least  above 
human  productions.  There  they  stand,  a  long 
chain  with  one  end  reaching  away  into  the  far 
back  past  and  the  other  end  gathering  around  the 
feet  of  Christ. 

What  gave  them  their  authority? 

There  seems  no  possible  answer  but  that 
already  suggested,  that  they  possessed  it  of  them- 
selves. They  commanded  their  position  by  a 
power  inherent  in  them.  Men's  reason  and  spirit- 
ual sense  combined  to  establish  them.  They 
appealed  by  their  own  intrinsic  worth  to  the  God- 
given  moral  faculty,  and  the  response  to  that 
appeal  has  been,  through  all  the  ages  since,  the 
real  foundation  of  the  Bible's  position. 


§  2.  Look  at  the  Old  Testament,  where  the 
question  chiefly  arises.  If  we  are  asked  to-day 
why  we  receive  it  as  inspired,  the  usual  reply  is 
that  we  receive  it  on  the  authority  of  Christ  and 
His  apostles.  They  accepted  it  as  the  word  of 
God  and  handed  it  down  with  their  imprimatur 
upon  it.  But  that  does  not  answer  the  question, 
for  we  want  to  know  why  it  was  accepted  before 
their  day  without  any  such  imprimatur. 

Look  first  at  the  prophets.     How  did  men 


22  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

come  to  believe  and  obey  the  words  of  Amos, 
and  Isaiah,  and  Jeremiah,  and  the  rest?  No 
answer,  we  repeat,  is  possible  but  this,  that  they 
compelled  recognition.  There  was  no  miracle  to 
attest  them,  no  council  to  authorize  them,  no 
audible  voice  from  heaven  to  compel  men's  allegi- 
ance. The  prophets  asserted  their  deep  conviction 
that  God  was  behind  their  message,  but  they  did 
not  point  to  any  outward  confirmation,  and  men 
simply  were  forced  to  believe  them.  There  was 
something  in  their  messages  which  compelled  the 
belief  that  they  really  were  the  word  of  the  Lord. 
And  the  longer  the  Jewish  nation  lasted  the  more 
time  there  was  for  these  utterances  to  produce 
their  impression,  the  more  thoroughly  were  they 
recognized  by  the  conscience  of  the  people  as 
being  of  divine  origin  and  authority. 


§  3.  Now  let  us  try  to  bring  this  conviction 
home  to  ourselves — to  test  on  ourselves  the  power 
of  these  Scripture  utterances  which  persuaded  men 
of  old  that  they  came  from  above.  For  it  is  as 
they  compel  in  us  the  same  convictions  that  we 
can  really  understand  the  making  of  the  Bible. 

Get  outside  all  thoughts  of  an  authoritative 
Bible,  get  back  into  the  days  when  it  was  only 
in  the  making.     Forget  the  fuller  light  of  Christ 


THE  APPEAL  OF  THE  BIBLE  23 

in  which  you  stand,  which  reveals  comparative 
imperfections  in  those  ancient  writers.  Put  your- 
self in  their  place.  Picture  the  nations  of  the 
earth  In  their  ignorance  and  depravity,  with  their 
blind  gropings  after  God,  reaching  no  higher  than 
fetishes  and  idols,  and  the  tales  of  classical  myth- 
ology. Then  listen  wonderlngly  to  those  pro- 
phetic voices  In  Israel  amid  the  surroundings  of 
that  dark  old  world  in  the  days  before  Romulus 
and  Remus  were  suckled  by  the  wolf : 

"Jehovah,  Jehovah.  A  God  full  of  compassion  and  gracious, 
slow  to  anger  and  plenteous  in  mercy  and  truth,  keeping 
mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity,  and  transgres- 
sion, and  sin,  and  that  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty. 

"Rend  your  hearts  and  not  your  garments,  and 
turn  unto  the  Lord  your  God,  for  He  is  gracious  and 
merciful,  slow  to  anger  and  of  great  kindness,  and 
repenteth  Him  of  the  evil. 

"Thus  saith  the  high  and  holy  One  that  inhabiteth 
eternity,  whose  name  is  Holy:  I  dwell  in  the  high  and 
holy  place  with  him  that  is  of  a  contrite  and  humble 
spirit,  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the  humble  and  to  revive 
the  heart  of  the  contrite  one. 

"What  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee  but  to  do  justly 
and  to  love  mercy  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God? 

"How  shall  I  give  thee  up,  Ephraim,  how  shall  I 
deliver  thee,  Israel  ?  Mine  heart  is  turned  within  me 
and    my    compassions    are    kindled    together." 

And  mingled  with  these  noble  thoughts,  like  a 
golden  thread  woven  through  the  web  of  prophecy, 


24  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

see  that  strangely  persistent  groping  after  some 
great  Being,  some  great  purpose  of  God  in 
the  future — from  the  Genesis  prediction  of  "The 
Seed  of  the  Woman"  to  the  vision  of  the  Coming 
One  by  the  great  prophet  of  the  exile — **Surely 
He  hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sor- 
rows   the  Lord  hath  laid  on  Him  the  iniquity 

of  us  all;' 

Try  to  realize  the  impressiveness  of  it.  All 
down  the  Jewish  history  in  the  midst  of  a  dark 
world  came  these  mysterious  voices  telling  of  a 
holy  God — teaching,  threatening,  pleading,  en- 
couraging, pointing  to  a  gradually  brightening 
ideal  and  to  the  hope  of  some  Great  One  who 
yet  was  to  come.  And  to  deepen  its  impressive- 
ness notice  that  these  prophets  asserted  passion- 
ately their  conviction:  "These  are  not  our  words. 
These  are  not  our  thoughts,  God  has  put  them 
into  us.  The  Word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  me. 
Hear  ye  therefore  the  word  of  the  Lord."  How 
could  the  people  doubt  it?  They  were  not  good 
people.  They  were  "stiff-necked  and  uncircum- 
cised  In  heart  and  ears,  who  did  always  resist 
the  Holy  Ghost."  They  hated  the  high  teaching. 
They  killed  the  prophets  and  stoned  those  who 
were  sent  unto  them.  But  conscience  insisted  that 
these  prophets  were  right  and,  by  and  by,  in 
deep   remorse  they  built   them   sepulchres   and 


of  the 
Psalms. 


THE  APPEAL  OF  THE  BIBLE  25 

treasured  up  what  fragments  they  could  find 
of  their  sacred  words.  How  could  they  help  it? 
Put  yourself  in  their  place.  Do  you  not  feel  that 
you  must  have  done  the  same  if  you  had  been 
there? 


II 


The  same, is  evidently  true  of  the 
The  Appeal  psalms,  the  hymns  of  the  Jewish 
Church.  They,  too,  owe  their  posi- 
tion to  the  appeal  which  they  made 
to  the  highest  in  men.  They  were  the  utter- 
ances of  noble  souls  who  with  all  their  imper- 
fections, knew  and  loved  God,  and  all  kindred 
souls  then  and  since  have  felt  their  power  in 
inspiring  the  spiritual  life.  The  author's  name 
did  not  matter.  In  most  cases  it  was  not  known. 
They  were  at  first  isolated  compositions.  Gradu- 
ally they  grew  into  little  collections.  Just  as  in 
the  case  of  our  own  hymns  to-day  some  "caught 
on"  and  became  favourites  and  survived,  because 
of  their  deeper  appeal  to  some  side  of  the  religi- 
ous nature.  Thus  half-unconsciously  came  a  grad- 
ual sifting  out.  Their  use  in  the  temple 
strengthened  their  position.  And  so  by  degrees 
came  the  five  little  hymn  books  (as  indicated  in 


26  THE  BIBLE  IN, THE  MAKING 

the  Revised  Version),  which  were  afterwards 
brought  together  in  our  present  collection. 

The  position  of  the  Psalter,  we  repeat,  is  not 
due  to  any  author's  name,  to  any  council's  sanc- 
tion, but  to  its  compelling  appeal  to  the  highest 
side  of  men  in  that  old  Jewish  Community.  That 
was  how  the  Holy  Spirit  wrought  in  making  the 
Bible.  Judged  by  the  higher  standard  of  Jesus 
Christ  we  can  see  imperfections  and  faults  due 
to  the  poor  imperfect  men  who  wrote  that  Psalter. 
Strange  if  it  were  otherwise  in  that  dark  age  in 
which  it  grew.  But  when  all  allowance  has  been 
made  for  these,  who  can  doubt  that  that  Psalter, 
which  has  been  so  powerful  in  inspiring  human 
life  through  the  ages  since,  caught  on  to  men's 
souls  in  those  early  days  and  convinced  them  that 
it  came  from  God? 

Again  let  us  test  it's  compelling  power  on 
ourselves.  Keep  back  still  in  that  dim  old  world 
with  its  self-seeking,  and  idolatries,  and  human 
sacrifices,  and  lustful  abominations,  with  no  real 
sense  of  sin,  no  longings  after  holiness,  and  listen 
to  the  Jewish  shepherd  reciting  in  the  field,  and 
the  Jewish  choir  boy  singing  in  the  church : 

"Praise  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  all  that  is  within  me, 
praise  His  Holy  Name,  Who  forgiveth  all  thine  ini- 
quities, Who  healeth  all  thy  diseases.  Who  redeemeth 
thy    life    from    destruction.    Who    crowneth    thee    with 


THE  APPEAL  OF  THE  BIBLE  27 


loving  kindness  and  tender  mercies.  .  .  .  Like  as  a 
father  pitieth  his  own  children,  so  is  the  Lord  merciful 
to  them  that  fear  Him,  for  He  knoweth  our  frame, 
He  remembereth  that  we   are  but   dust. 

"Lord,  who  shall  sojourn  in  Thy  tabernacle,  Who 
shall  dwell  in  Thy  holy  hill?  He  that  walketh  up- 
rightly and  worketh  righteousness  and  speaketh  the 
truth  in  his  heart. 

"The  Lord  is  my  shepherd.  I  shall  not  want.  He 
maketh  me  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures,  He  leadeth 
me  beside  the  still  waters.  He  restoreth  my  soul.  He 
leadeth  me  in  the  paths  of  righteousness  for  His  Name's 
sake.  Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil,  for  Thou  art  with 


"Have  mercy  on  me,  O  God,  according  to  Thy 
loving  kindness,  according  to  the  multitude  of  Thy 
tender  mercies,  blot  out  my  transgressions.  Wash  me 
thoroughly  from  mine  iniquity  and  cleanse  me  from 
my  sin.  .  .  .  The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit, 
a  broken  and  contrite  heart,  O  God,  Thou  wilt  not 
despise." 


Are  not  such  songs  In  such  an  age  one  of 
the  great  miracles  of  history?  How  could  men 
help  loving  and  reverencing  and  preserving  such 
songs?  How  could  they  help  feeling  that  a 
divine  Spirit  was  behind  them? 


28  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 


III 


The  rest  of  the  Old  Testament 
The  Appeal  jg  ^j^g  history  of  God's  dealings  with 
History.  ^^^  nation — a  story  gathered  under 
the  guidance  of  God's  providence  in 
many  generations,  from  many  sources,  since  the 
far  back  childhood  of  the  race.  At  first  sight 
the  appeal  to  us  seems  decidedly  weaker  here 
than  in  the  prophets  and  psalms.  These  histor- 
ians had  not  our  modern  advantages.  Much  of 
their  material  came  from  old  traditions  and  from 
various  written  records  and  collections  of  national 
songs  and  stories.  So  far  as  we  can  judge  God's 
providence  worked  on  natural  lines.  Evidently 
it  is  a  true  history  in  the  main,  but  we  have  no 
right  to  assume  that  they  were  miraculously 
guarded  from  any  inaccuracies  of  figure  or  fact 
in  all  these  ancient  sources,  therefore  we  cannot 
claim  infallibility  for  every  detail. 

The  appealing  power  of  their  history  con- 
sists in  the  fact  that  it  is  a  revelation  of  God,  a 
history  of  God's  dealings  with  men.  Under- 
neath  it  all  lies  the  deep  conviction,  the  founda- 
tion of  Israel's  religion. 


The  Lord  our  God  is  a  righteous  God,  and  righteousness  is 
what  He  desires  in  His  people. 


THE  APPEAL  OF  THE  BIBLE  29 

This  conviction  had  grown  into  the  very 
blood  of  the  nation.  It  belonged  not  to  the 
prophets  and  historians  alone,  but  to  the  whole 
community,  however  Httle  they  yielded  to  it. 

No  one  will  ever  know  who  these  writers 
were.  One  writer  wrote  this  part,  another  wrote 
that,  others  later  on  edited  and  revised  and  com- 
bined. So  the  story  grew.  It  was  no  one 
author's  story.  It  was  a  story  by  a  community 
dedicated  to  God,  telling  what  He  helped  them 
to  see  of  His  relation  toward  them. 

The  historians  were  evidently  men  with  a 
prophetic  instinct.  History  was  a  part  of  the 
work  of  the  prophetic  order.  As  we  shall  see 
later  on  in  the  early  foundations  of  the  Old 
Testament,  the  books  from  Joshua  to  Kings  were 
known  as  "The  Former  Prophets,"  as  dis- 
tinguished  from  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and 
the  book  of  the  Twelve,  which  were  known  as 
*The  Latter  Prophets."  All  prophets  were  not 
on  the  same  high  level.  Obadiah  hid  a  hun- 
dred prophets  in  a  cave.  There  were  many 
obscure  prophets  whose  words  we  never  hear  of, 
simple,  humble,  religious  men,  who  declared 
God's  will  and  helped  in  their  quiet  way  to  build 
up  the  religious  life  of  Israel.  Amongst  these 
unnamed  ones  were  the  men  who  generation  after 
generation  recorded  and  interpreted  the  history 
of  the  nation  and  showed  God  always  behind  it. 


30  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

But  we  make  no  appeal  on  the  score  of  their 
being  prophets.  The  appeal  is  made  by  the 
history  itself.  Was  ever  national  history  so  ex- 
traordinarily written?  It  is  the  history  of  an  evil 
and  rebellious  people,  yet  everything  is  looked  at 
in  relation  to  the  God  of  Righteousness.  Records 
of  other  ancient  nations  tell  what  this  or  that 
great  king  accomplished,  how  the  people  con- 
quered or  were  conquered  by  their  enemies.  In 
these  Jewish  records  everything  is  of  God — a 
righteous,  holy  God.  It  is  God  who  conquered, 
God  who  delivered,  God  who  punished,  God  who 
fought.  There  is  no  boasting  of  the  national 
glory,  no  flattering  of  the  national  vanity;  their 
greatest  sins  and  disgraces  and  punishments  are 
recorded  just  as  fully  as  their  triumphs  and  their 
joys.  In  the  records  of  other  nations  the  chief 
stress  is  laid  on  power  and  prosperity  and  com- 
fort and  wealth.  In  these  strange  records  good- 
ness seems  to  be  the  only  thing  of  importance. 
To  do  the  right,  to  please  the  holy  God  Is  of 
infinitely  more  value  than  to  be  powerful  or  rich 
or  successful  in  life.  "He  did  that  which  was 
right  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,"  "He  did  that 
which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord"  are  the 
epitaphs  of  their  most  famous  Kings. 

Therefore  the  national  history  of  Israel  also 
also  holds  its  position  by  its  appeal  to  the  religious 


THE  APPEAL  OF  THE  BIBLE  31 

instinct.      No   author's   name,    no    theory   of  its 

composition    affects   its   position.      Whatever  its 

imperfection,  it  has  impressed  itself  upon  us  as 
the  simple  story  of  God's  dealing  with  men. 


IV 


Be  it  remembered  that  I  am  not 
^Qh^V^    here  discussing  with  Christian  men  our 
reason    for   believing   in   the   inspira- 
tion of  the  Old  Testament.     I  am  but  concerned 


with  the  story  of  the  making  of  the  Bible.  I 
am  trying  to  put  myself  back  Into  the  position  of 
the  old  Jewish  Church,  trying  to  understand  the 
compelling  impulse  w^hlch  made  them  mark  off 
certain  books  as  of  divine  authority.  I  put  my- 
self in  their  place.  I  feel  with  them  the  insistent 
conviction,  independent  of  authors'  names  or 
method  of  composition,  that  there  is  something  in 
these  books  that  is  essentially  divine.  They  put 
a  pressure  on  my  conscience  and  spiritual  instinct 
of  the  same  kind  (though  not  quite  in  the  same 
degree)  as  that  which  the  books  of  Euclid  put 
on  my  intellect.  When  I  have  studied  a  proposi- 
tion of  Euclid  I  feel  absolutely  certain  that  the 
conclusion  is  true — that  it  must  be  true — and  that 
not  only  now  and  here  but  In  the  farthest  ages, 


32  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

in  the  most  distant  planet.  It  could  never  be 
other  than  true.  Whether  the  books  of  Euclid 
were  composed  by  one  man  or  several,  in  one 
year  or  during  centuries  does  not  affect  the  posi- 
tion. That  is  a  matter  of  mere  literary  interest. 
The  books,  however  they  came,  have  an  inherent 
impelling  power  that  grips  me  on  the  intel- 
lectual side.  The  great  utterances  of  Scripture 
have  a  power  of  the  same  kind,  though  from 
the  nature  of  the  case  not  quite  in  the  same 
degree,  that  grips  me  on  my  conscience  and  spirit- 
ual side.  That  is  the  basis  of  their  authority. 
That  is  why  the  old  Jews  felt  that  God  was  in 
them.    That  was  why  they  grew  into  a  Bible. 

But  for  us  Christians  this  conviction  has  in- 
creased a  thousandfold  by  the  attitude  of  the 
Christ  Himself  toward  this  Old  Testament.  Tt 
was  the  Bible  of  His  education.  It  was  the  Bible 
of  His  ministry.  He  took  for  granted  its  funda- 
mental doctrines  about  creation,  man,  righteous- 
ness, God's  providence  and  purpose.  He  accepted 
it  as  the  preparation  for  Himself  and  taught 
His  disciples  to  find  Him  in  it.  He  used  it  to 
justify  His  mission  and  to  illumine  the  mystery 
of  the  cross.  Above  all  He  fed  His  own  soul 
with  its  contents  and  in  the  great  crises  of  His 
life  sustained  Himself  upon  it  as  the  solemn  word 
of  God.' 


THE  APPEAL  OF  THE  BIBLE  33 

This  does  not  mean  that  He  thought  its  teach- 
ing free  from  all  imperfections  of  its  human 
teachers,  or  that  criticism  may  not  have  something 
to  teach  us  of  its  origin  or  composition.  He 
criticises  and  supersedes  some  of  its  precepts. 
(See  Matt.  v.  21,  27,  33,  38,  43.)  He  suggests 
that  it  is  but  a  stage  toward  His  own  higher 
teaching.  "Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  by 
them  of  old  time  .  .  .  but  I  say  unto  you"  some- 
thing higher  still.  But  whatever  its  imperfection 
He  certainly  gave  His  full  sanction  to  the  belief 
that  the  Bible  which  He  loved  and  studied  and 
used  was  God's  divine  authoritative  teaching  for 
men.  In  these  days  of  disquiet  about  the  Old 
Testament  it  is  surely  well  to  keep  that  fact 
in  mind. 

The  New  Testament  stands  in  a  different 
position  from  the  Old.  For  there  the  central 
figure  is  the  Son  of  God  Himself.  Every  word 
of  His  was,  of  course,  regarded  by  His  followers 
as  divine  and  the  Books  were  accepted  because 
they  were  believed  to  tell  truly  of  Him. 

Yet  as  in  the  case  of  the  Old  Testament,  the 
appeal  is  still  to  the  divine  instinct  in  men.  Jesus 
did  not  come  with  compelling  external  authority, 
with  thunderings  and  lightnings  and  the  glory  of 
God,  forcing  men  to  believe.     He  came  in  the 


34  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

form  of  a  carpenter's  son  and  made  his  appeal 
to  men's  hearts  and  consciences,  as  the  Old  Book 
had  done  which  testified  of  Him.  And  the  hearts 
and  consciences  of  men  responded. 

This  is  all  we  need  say  here  of  the  position 
of  the  New  Testament,  since  the  discussion  of  it 
comes  before  us  later. 


CHAPTER  III 

CRITICISM  AND  THE  BIBLE 

I 

Before  discussing  what  modern  re- 
Disquiet,  search  has  to  tell  about  the  making  of 
to  Meet  it     *^^  Bible,  it  was  necessary  for  us  first 

to   do   what   we    have   done — try   to 
understand  the  impulse  which  led  the  Church  to 
make  certain  books  into  a  Bible,  that  thus  we 
might  realize  the  solid  foundation  on  which  the 
Bible  rests.     For  if  its  authority  rests  not  on  \/ 
any  external  miracle,  nor  on  any  author's  name,  "^ 
nor  on  any  theory  of  its  composition,  nor  on  any  ^ 
pronouncement  of  Church  or  Council  or  Pope  or 
Saint,  but  on  its  own  compelling  power  in  every 
age  to  convince  men  that  it  came  from  God,  then 
its  foundations  are  safe  enough,  and  the  question 
how   the   books   grew   or  by   whom  they   were 
written   or   edited   or  brought  together   into    a 
Bible  can  be  discussed  without  anxiety.     It  is  a 
secondary   matter,    a    matter    of    mere   literary 

35 


36  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

interest,  in  no  way  vital  to  the  authority  of  the 
Scriptures. 

This  Is  an  important  point  to  keep  in  mind. 
For  during  the  past  century  scholars  have  been 
discussing  as  never  before,  the  origins  and  com- 
position of  the  Bible.  While  the  discussion  was 
confined  to  scholars  it  caused  but  little  trouble. 
But  now  that  it  has  come  out  into  the  open  in 
sermons  and  reviews  and  magazine  articles,  the 
Christian  public  have  grown  uneasy  and  per- 
plexed. 

"If  these  scholars  are  right,"  they  say,  "it 
would  seem  that  the  Bible,  especially  the  Old 
Testament,  has  not  come  In  the  way  we  thought; 
that  several  of  the  books  were  not  written  by  the 
writers  nor  at  the  time  to  which  they  are  usually 
attributed;  that  Inspired  histories  Instead  of  being 
written  by  one  Inspired  man  have  been  the  result 
of  growth  and  compiling  and  editing  and  revising 
just  like  any  secular  history;  that  some  of  the 
sources  are  oral  traditions  floating  down  In  the 
national  memory  for  centuries;  that  the  Penta- 
teuch as  It  stands  In  the  Bible  to-day  appeared 
first  many  centuries  after  the  days  of  Moses.  If 
these  things  be  true  they  are  very  startling  to  us, 
and  our  confidence  in  the  Bible  is  decidedly 
shaken." 


CRITICISM  AND  THE  BIBLE  37 

§  2.  No  one  who  has  passed  through  this 
stage  himself  can  help  feeling  keen  sympathy  with 
faithful  hearts  disturbed  by  the  intrusion  of  new 
thoughts  and  new  view-points. 

But  these  new  thoughts  and  new  view-points 
must  be  faced.  For  there  Is  no  longer  now  any 
serious  question  as  to  those  disturbing  statements 
just  referred  to.  Whether  when  rightly  read  they 
may  not  prove  the  opposite  of  disturbing  is  quite 
another  question.  But  at  any  rate  they  are  known 
to  be  true.  There  are  extreme  views  and  specula- 
tions of  criticism  which  are  discredited  and  pass- 
ing away,  but  there  is  no  longer  any  real  doubt 
as  to  the  foundation  facts.  They  have  come 
to  stay.  The  controversy  is  practically  over. 
Through  the  laborious  investigations  of  scholars 
for  centuries,  God  has  given  new  light  on  the 
making  of  the  Bible.  I  believe  this  new  light 
will  bring  nobler  views  of  Scripture.  But  until 
we  have  adapted  ourselves  to  it,  it  is  likely  to 
be  disquieting. 

How  shall  we  adapt  ourselves  to  It?  First 
realize,  as  has  been  already  said,  the  solid  founda- 
tions on  which  the  Bible  rests.  That  Is  the  first 
important  thing  to  keep  In  mind  when  higher 
criticism  disturbs  us  by  upsetting  our  theories. 
And  this  Is  the  second:  that  we  had  no  business 
making  these  theories  without  any  real  ground 


38  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

for  them,  and  so  perhaps  It  may  be  a  good  thing 
that  somebody  should  upset  them  for  us.  The 
vague  popular  idea  is  that  Moses  wrote  the  first 
book,  the  complete  Pentateuch;  then  Joshua 
wrote  the  next  book  and  put  it  beside  the  first; 
then  Samuel  wrote  the  next,  and  so  on,  genera- 
tion after  generation,  some  holy  man  contributed 
a  completed  book  and  added  it  to  the  inspired 
library  of  the  Jews.  It  did  no  harm  to  believe 
this  so  long  as  nobody  knew  any  reason  against 
it.  But  when  it  was  questioned  we  ought  to  have 
taken  the  trouble  to  find  out  that  it  was  only  an 
assumption,  and  that  we  knew  little  or  nothing 
about  the  authorship  of  the  books.  Except  in 
the  case  of  the  prophets  the  Old  Testament  books 
are  all  anonymous.  The  Bible  says  nothing  about 
their  authorship  or  composition.  If  we  judge  the 
Bible  from  what  it  says  of  itself  there  is  in  it 
no  foundation  for  the  popular  theory  of  its  origin. 

There  are  some  statements  on  the  subject  in 
the  Jewish  Talmud  written  in  the  early  Christian 
centuries,  but  we  have  only  to  read  them  to  see 
that  they  are  mere  conjectures. 

Here,  for  example,  is  the  most  famous  of 
them.  It  is  in  the  Talmud  tract,  ^'Baba  Bathra/' 
giving  certain  fanciful  reasons  as  to  the  order  in 
which  the  books  should  stand.  Then  comes  a  sec- 
tion on  the  authorship  of  the  Books — 


CRITICISM  AND  THE  BIBLE  39 

"And  -who  wrote  them  (i.e.  the  Books  of  Scripture)  ?  Moses 
"wrote  his  own  book,  and  the  section  about  Balaam  and 
Job.  Joshua  wrote  his  own  book,  and  eight  verses  in  the 
Torah.  Samuel  wrote  his  own  book  and  the  books  of 
Judges  and  Ruth.  David  wrote  the  book  of  the  Psalms  at 
the  direction  of  the  ten  elders,  the  first  man,  Melchizedek, 
and  Abraham  and  Moses  and  Heman  and  Jeduthun, 
and  Asaph,  and  the  three  sons  of  Korah.  Jeremiah 
wrote  his  own  book,  and  the  book  of  the  Kings  and 
Lamentations.  Hezekiah  and  his  company  wrote  Isaiah, 
Proverbs,  Song  of  Songs,  and  Ecclesiastes.  The  men  of 
the  Great  Synagogue  wrote  Ezekiel  and  the  Twelve 
(minor  Prophets),  Daniel,  and  the  Roll  of  Esther. 
Ezra  wrote  his  own  book,  and  the  genealogies  in 
Chronicles  down  to  his  own  time.  .  .  .  Eight  verses 
which  are  In  the  Torah  Joshua  wrote:  for  the  reading 
is:  'And  Moses  the  Servant  of  the  Lord  died  there.' 
Is  It  possible  that  Moses  should  have  in  his  lifetime, 
written  the  words:  'And  he  died  there'?  Was  it  not 
that  Moses  wrote  so  far  and  from  that  point  onward 
Joshua  wrote?  .  .  .  Joshua  wrote  his  own  book:  but 
as  for  that  which  is  written,  'And  Joshua  the  son  of 
Nun  the  servant  of  the  Lord  died,'  Eleazar  added  it 
at  the  end.  And  whereas  it  is  written,  'And  Eleazar 
the  son  of  Aaron  died,'  Phineas  and  the  Elders  added 
that.  Whereas  it  is  said  Samuel  wrote  his  own  book 
and  it  is  written,  'And  Samuel  died,'  Gad  the  Seer  and 
Nathan  the  Prophet  added  that.* 


§  3.  Evidently  this  is  all  mere  conjecture. 
But  such  conjectures  are  responsible  for  some 
part  at  least  of  the  present  day  vague  disquiet. 
For  the  early  Christian  Church  in  an  uncritical 
age  in  taking  over  the  Bible  of  the  Jews  took 
over  also  some  of  their  theories.     By  and  by 


40  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

these  theories  grew  into  the  popular  Christian 
tradition,  and  became  so  interwoven  with  men's 
ideas  about  the  Bible  that  when  scholars  began 
to  disturb  the  theories  people  got  an  uneasy  feel- 
ing they  were  disturbing  the  authority  of  the 
Bible. 

There  is  a  wise  saying  of  Bishop  Buder,  often 
quoted,  but  not  so  often  kept  In  mind  when  it  is 
needed. 


"As  we  are  in  no  sort  judges  beforehand  ...  by  -what 
means  it  were  to  be  expected  that  God  would  naturally 
instruct  us,  so  upon  supposition  of  His  affording  us 
light  and  instruction  by  Revelation  we  are  in  no  sort 
judges  by  what  methods  ...  it  were  to  be  expected 
that  this  supernatural  light  and  instruction  would  be 
afforded  us.  Therefore,  neither  obscurity  .  .  .  nor  early 
disputes  about  the  authors  of  particular  parts,  nor  any 
other  things  of  the  like  kind,  though  they  had  been  much 
more  considerable  than  they  are  could  overthrow  the 
authority  of  Scripture;  unless  the  Prophets,  Apostles,  or 
our  Lord  had  promised  that  the  book  containing  the 
Divine  Revelation  should  be  secure  from  such  things." 


II 


It  IS  hopeful  to  see  how  faith  and 

"^^^        common  sense  are  modifying  the  posl- 
Position      ^'  ^1  TTT 

to-day.       ^^^^   ^^   ^^^  years   go   on.      We   are 
gradually  adjusting  our  focus,  and  get- 
ting accustomed  to  the  newer  point  of  view.    We 


CRITICISM  AND  THE  BIBLE  41 

see  that  historical  investigation  and  literary  re- 
search have  raised  problems  which  absolutely 
necessitate  a  readjustment  of  our  old  conception 
about  the  making  of  the  Bible.  And  the  hope 
is  dawning  on  us  that  good  will  come  of  It.  We 
are  remembering  how  the  Evolution  scare  In  the 
last  generation  showed  the  need  of  readjustment 
of  our  views  of  God  and  nature,  and  how  through 
that  scare  and  that  readjustment  we  have  greatly 
gained  In  our  conception  of  the  unsearchable  wis- 
dom and  goodness  of  the  Creator. 

And  Faith  Is  whispering  to  us,  "It  shall  be 
so  again.  Trust  God  always.  Follow  truth  at 
any  price  and  it  shall  be  well." 

We  still  see  the  Word  of  God  exercising  con- 
tinuously Its  mysterious  power  on  the  world.  We 
still  see  that  it  came  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  But  we  sec  that  this  operation  was  other 
than  we  thought.  He  left  more  to  human  instru- 
ments than  we  once  supposed.  The  beginnings 
were  earlier  than  our  traditions  said.  Not  "Back 
to  Moses,"  but  a  millennium  before  Moses  amid 
a  primitive  people,  amid  legends  and  myths  and 
folk  songs  "the  spirit  of  God  was  brooding  on 
the  face  of  the  waters,"  and  under  His  Divine 
Impulse  a  people  and  a  literature  were  beginning 
their  rise  to  the  throne  of  spiritual  influence  in 
the  world.    By  strange  unnoticed  steps,  far  other- 


42  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING^ 

wise  than  we  deemed,  the  Bible  grew,  and  we, 
as  our  first  wonder  has  passed,  are  beginning  to 
say,  "Why  not?  Why  should  not  God  as  well 
reveal  Himself  in  this  way  as  in  any  other?" 

§  2.  And  so  the  Church  is  settling  down 
again.  The  odium  against  criticism  is  passing 
away.  For  it  is  seen  that  true  and  reverent  criti- 
cism is  a  hand-maid  to  the  Bible,  being  only 
the  legitimate  interpretation  of  historical  facts 
relating  to  it.  Religion  must  always  gain  in  the 
end  by  the  loyal  following  of  truth  wherever  it 
leads. 

A  change  has  come  over  the  whole  spirit  of 
the  controversy.  There  is  on  the  one  side  more 
sympathy  and  more  reverence  for  the  Scriptures, 
and  on  the  other  side  more  generous  appreciation 
of  learning  and  high  purpose  and  long  patient 
work.  Also,  people  are  less  afraid  of  what  may 
result.  They  know  now  the  worst  that  is  ever 
likely  to  be  said.  Much  of  that  worst  has  proved 
erroneous  and  passed  out  of  mind.  And  there 
is  no  more  such  behind.  In  fact  the  whole  ten- 
dency has  grown  more  conservative  lately. 

§  3.  Now  that  we  are  nearing  the  close  of 
destructive  criticism — destructive  of  old  theories 


CRITICISM  AND  THE  BIBLE  43 

baseless  and  untrue,  it  is  surely  fitting  that  the 
Church  should  attempt  more  to  do  constructive 
work,  to  tell  as  far  as  can  be  known  at  present 
the  true  story  of  the  making  of  the  Bible  in  the 
light  of  modern  research.  This  little  book  is 
one — a  very  humble  one — of  such  efforts  on  be- 
half of  the  thoughtful  devout  layman  who  is 
still  puzzled  and  distressed.  Like  a  child  vaguely 
fearing  a  bogie  in  the  dark  he  does  not  quite 
know  how  much  there  is  to  be  feared — how  much 
IS  behind  which  has  not  been  told  to  him.  Our 
purpose  is  to  drag  out  the  bogie  and  show  it 
to  him — to  tell  him  frankly  the  disturbing  things 
that  have  been  learned  that  he  may  judge  for 
himself  if  he  has  reason  to  be  afraid  of  them. 

To  many  who  have  thought  very  deeply  about 
It,  it  seems  that  the  Bible  will  be  the  richer  for 
all  that  we  have  learned — that  its  inspiration  will 
be  more  understood  and  appreciated  as  we  realize 
more,  in  the  fuller  light  of  historical  research,  the 
tender  and  wonderful  methods  of  God's  self- 
revelation  to  man,  His  patience  and  resourceful- 
ness and  silent  workings  unseen  by  any  human 
eye. 


PART  II 

THE  MAKING  OF  THE  OLD 
TESTAMENT 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  LOST  LIBRARY 

The  First     WiTH  this  preparation  we  proceed  to 

Stage  in      tell  briefly  of  the  making  of  the  Old 

Bible-       Testament,  which  differs  only  in  this 

making.      £^^^  ^j^^  making  of  the  New,   that 

while  the  New  Testament  was  completed  in  one 

generation,  the  Old  Testament  was  in  the  making 

for  nearly  2000  years. 

The   story,   as  we  have   already  said,   is  In 
two  stages: 

First.     The   formation   of  a   religious 
LITERATURE.    How  it  was  composed,  what  earlier 
sources  were  used,  how  far  the  books  may  have 
been  combined  and  worked  over  and  edited  and 
revised. 

Second.     The  selection  or  acceptance  or 

RECOGNITION  OF  CERTAIN  PARTS  OF  THIS  LITERA- 
TURE— the  process  by  which  certain  books  Im- 
pressed themselves  on  the  national  consciousness 
as  being  especially  Inspired  of  God,  so  that  the 
Jewish  Church  was  led  to  place  them  apart  from 

47 


48  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

its  other  literature  as  divine  and  authoritative, 
and  so  collect  them  into  a  Jewish  Bible. 


§  2.  We  begin  with  the  first.  Does  any 
reader  think  that  the  Old  Testament  began  with 
the  books  which  are  in  our  hands  to-day?  A  very 
little  study  of  its  structure  will  dissipate  that  idea. 
The  Bible  itself  distinctly  contradicts  it.  Long 
before  a  chapter  of  our  Bible  was  written,  there 
existed  an  older  religious  literature  now  lost  for 
ever  which  seems  to  have  been  quite  familiar  to 
the  writers  of  Scripture. 

This  is  what  any  thoughtful  scholar  would 
naturally  expect.  He  sees  even  in  the  oldest  books 
of  our  present  Scriptures  a  finished  literary  style 
and  an  appeal  to  a  previous  religious  knowledge 
on  the  reader's  part,  which  at  once  makes  him 
feel  that  there  must  have  been  earlier  literary 
compositions  and  earlier  religious  teaching  for 
some  considerable  time  before.  That  this  was  so 
we  gather  from  the  Old  Testament  writers  them- 
selves. 

They  tell  us  in  the  Pentateuch  that  they  went 
to  their  "Book  of  the  Wars  of  Jehovah"  for  the 
Song  of  the  Arnon  valleys  (Num.  xxi.  14),  they 
quote  the  Song  of  the  Well  from  the  folk-songs 
of  their  day  (Num.  xxi.  17,  18),  the  Book  of 


THE  LOST  LIBRARY  49 

Jasher  was  their  source  for  the  battle  of  Bethoron 
and  the  sun  standing  still  (Josh.  x.  lo).  Later 
on  they  turn  up  the  same  Book  of  Jasher  for 
the  Song  of  the  Bow,  the  lament  over  Saul  and 
Jonathan  (2  Sam.  i.  18)  and  other  incidents 
are  quoted  freely  from  the  Book  of  Nathan,  the 
Book  of  Gad,  the  Book  of  Jehu,  the  Book  of 
Shemaiah,  the  Book  of  Iddo  the  Seer,  etc. 

Which  at  once  sets  us  wondering  about  this 
ancient  lost  literature  from  which  these  books 
were  picked  out  for  quotation.  What  was  the 
extent  of  it?  What  were  the  contents?  How 
far  did  it  go  back?  How  much  of  still  earlier 
literature  was  incorporated  in  it — songs,  perhaps, 
and  legends  and  thoughts  and  guesses  of  the  pre- 
historic days  when  the  world  was  young? 

It  is  a  question  of  mere  literary  interest,  but 
surely  of  enthralling  literary  Interest.  What 
and  where  were  the  beginnings  of  the  Bible,  the 
ultimate,  far  back,  very  first  beginnings  of  ele- 
ments afterwards  built  Into  the  structure  of  the 
Old  Testament. 


§  3.  How  can  we  know  anything  about  It, 
some  one  asks,  since  we  have  no  history  to  tell 
us?  Neither  has  the  scientist,  we  reply,  who 
seeks  to  learn  the  story  of  the  making  of  the 


50  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

mountains.  We  can  but  do  what  he  does.  As  the 
geologist  digs  into  the  strata  of  the  rocks  for 
traces  of  the  old-world  shells  and  animal  remains 
which  compose  them,  so  we  can  dig  Into  the  strata 
of  the  Old  Testament,  seeking  traces  of  the  old- 
world  literature  built  Into  it.  And  in  doing  so 
we  find  exciting  answers  to  our  guesses;  we  are 
brought  back  to  the  child  races  of  the  world, 
to  the  beginnings  of  the  Jewish  Church,  to  the 
laws  and  legends  of  a  primitive  people,  to  the 
rude  ballads  and  war  songs  and  histories  of  far 
back  days  when  bards  and  story  tellers  took  the 
place  of  books,  and  history  was  transmitted  by 
word  of  mouth. 

Thus  began  the  early  literature  of  every 
people.  Thus  began  the  early  literature  of  the 
Jews.    Thus  began  the  making  of  the  Bible. 

It  was  not  ''Bible"  yet;  it  was  only  amongst 
the  **origines,^^  the  beginnings.  But  we  believe 
that  God  was  behind  these  little  beginnings  as 
He  is  behind  the  little  rivulets  where  the  rivers 
rise.  I  am  writing  this  on  the  banks  of  the  lower 
St.  Lawrence,  twelve  miles  wide  as  It  draws 
toward  the  sea.  Behind  it  lie  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  behind  these  the  many  rivers  of  the  West, 
and  farther  back  the  mountain  torrents  and  the 
rivulets  which  feed  them,  and  behind  these  the 
drainage  of  the  far-away  hills,  and  behind  all, 
the  rain  from  heaven.    We  must  get  back  there 


THE  LOST  LIBRARY  51 

to  complete  the  illustration.  It  was  the  rain  from 
heaven  that  began  the  mighty  river.  It  was  God 
who  helped  the  thoughts  and  questionings  of  the 
child  races  of  earth  which  after  many  generations 
touched  the  making  of  the  Bible. 


§  4.  The  world  would  give  a  good  deal  to- 
day for  the  recovery  of  that  ancient  lore  which 
inspiration  caught  up  afterwards  and  brought 
Into  the  Bible.  Possibly  the  explorer's  spade  may 
yet  find  parts  of  It  as  It  has  found  much  older 
matter.  But  In  all  probability  It  Is  lost  to  us  for 
ever,  except  what  men  have  been  able  to  dis- 
cover In  the  Bible. 

Later  on  we  shall  examine  their  methods  of 
discovery  and  watch  them  digging,  not  Into  the 
earth  but  Into  the  strata  of  the  Bible  to  uncover 
the  old  literature  embedded  there  In  ancient  days. 
It  would  be  unwise  to  do  this  here  lest  we  should 
break  the  connection  of  thought. 

Meantime  It  will  be  convenient  here  to  Indicate 
what  traces  they  have  found.  Here  Is  a  rough 
list,  partly  conjectural,  but  mainly  resting  on 
definite  evidence  In  the  Scriptures — a  list  on  which 
the  bulk  of  modern  scholars  would  agree : 


62  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

Ancient    ^bc  ol&  Scmttic  ICQCxi^s  ot  tbc  Ctca* 

^°^^      tion  anD  tbe  Deluge  from  the  cradle  of 

the  Hebrew  race,  not  in  their  crude  pagan  form, 

but   purified   and  transfigured   after  contact  for 

centuries  with  the  religious  life  of  Israel. 

3BallaD0  an&  ffClfeSOngs  of  earliest  days  sung 
around  the  camp  fires  and  in  the  tribal  gatherings. 
©ral  WStOrieS  of  great  deeds-  of  the  past  told 
by  the  story  tellers  at  feast  and  festival. 

Cuneiform  Inscriptions  on  tiles  the  probable 

originals  of  e.  g.  Gen.  xiv. 

Cycles  ot  %cQcriC>B  ot  tbe  ipatriarcbs  current 

amongst  the  people  and  preserved  at  the  sanctua- 
ries connected  with  their  names — Shechem  and 
Bethel  and  Shiloh  and  Mahanaim. 

(IO&es  Ot  ancient  laws,  oral  or  written,  orig- 
inating with  Moses,  amongst  them  the  Book  of 
the  Covenant,  the  Law  of  Holiness,  etc.,  and 
prominent  above  all,  the  Ten  Commandments. 

Stories  ot  tbe  3EX0^US,  written  records  of  the 
desert  journeys.  Directions  about  worship. 
Teachings  of  Moses. 

XTbe  Ballads  an&  bistories  ot  tbe  JuOoes  pre- 
served at  their  several  centres.  Songs  an^  camp 
Stories  about  Saul  and  David,  etc.  IRecorbS  Ot 
tbe  scbools  ot  tbe  propbets,  from  Samuel  to 
Elijah,   historical  notes  by  the  ojEcial  recorders. 


THE  LOST  LIBRARY  53 

-,-   .  TEbeBooftottbeMarsotJebovab* 

CollecHons. 

XTbe  Booft  ot  Jasber*  Ube  Booft  ot 
IRatban^  TLbc  Booft  ot  6aD»  XTbe  3Booft  ot  5t)^o 
tbe  Seer»  XTbe  Booft  ot  5ebu^  XTbe  Booft  ot 
Sbemaiab^  XTbe  Hctsot  Solomon*  XTbe  Cbron«» 
Ides  ot  tbe  "Rings  ot  SwMb.  Xtbe  Cbronfcles  ot 
fsraeL 

SbeetS  ot  ©salms  from  the  temple  choir  desks. 
Collection  ot  proverbs  by  the  men  of  Hezekiah. 

(Prov.  XXV.  i).  XTbe  sermons  au^  predictions  &t 
tbe  propbetSt  some  of  which  were  written  down 
by  the  prophets  or  their  disciples. 

Bibles  before     XEbc  SSlble  ot  Soutbcm  3u6ab,  (the 

the  Bible.  Jahvist  Bible,  ninth  century  B.C.),  XEbe 

Bible  ot  mortbern  Hsrael  (the   Elohist  Bible 

eighth  century  B.C.),  ^bC  Booft  Ot  Deuteronoms, 

621  B.C.,  XTbe  Booft  ot  tbe  priests* 

This  IS  all  that  we  can  find  of  the  lost  sacred 
literature  which  was  extant  in  the  days  of  the 
prophets  and  kings.  What  the  whole  extent  of 
it  was  no  man  can  tell.  It  was  not  "Bible."  We 
cannot  yet  assume  the  thought  of  a  Bible.  The 
need  had  not  yet  come.  Religion  was  kept  alive 
for  Israel  by  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  by  the 
oral   teaching   of   the   priests,   by   the   inspired 


54  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

utterances  of  the  prophets.     They  did  not  need 
a  Bible. 

But  the  idea  of  a  Bible  had  already  taken 
root  and  was  growing.  Doubtless  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments were  venerated  as  divine.  The  Book 
of  the  Covenant  and  the  Law  of  Holiness  stood 
prominent  amongst  the  laws.  Later  we  shall  see 
the  reverence  for  Deuteronomy  and  we  know  that 
the  prophets'  sermons  were  regarded  as  inspired. 
Here,  already,  was  the  essential  idea  of  a  Bible. 
And  surely  we  are  not  wrong  in  thinking  that  a 
Divine  Providence  was  guiding  the  writers  of 
the  old  history  and  literature,  that  unconscious 
preparation  for  the  Bible  that  was  to  be. 


CHAPTER  II 

SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY 

I 

TheCrea-  ^OW  we  are  to  seek  for  ourselves  in 
tionand  the  Bible,  traces  of  this  old  lost  litera- 
Deluge  ture  by  methods  which  are  explained 
Legends.  -^^  ^  later  chapter.  And  at  the  very 
first  step — in  the  very  first  chapters  of  Genesis 
— straightway  we  are  carried  back  to  the  old- 
world  days,  to  the  infancy  of  the  Hebrew  race, 
when  Abram  came  wandering  out  of  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,  one  thousand  years  before  Moses.  For 
there  in  the  twilight  of  history  in  the  cradle  of 
the  Hebrew  race,  there  were  around  him  pre- 
historic legends  of  the  Creation  and  the  Flood. 
We  have  found  them  and  can  read  them  to-day. 
Abram  and  the  men  of  his  time  must  have  known 
them.  And  if  so,  they  must  have  remembered 
them.  *God  did  not  obliterate  the  whole  con- 
tents of  the  religious  consciousness  of  the  Abra- 
hamic  family  when  he  called  Abraham  to  leave 

55 


66  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

his  country/  These  legends  were  primitive,  child- 
ish, almost  grotesque  in  parts,  and  they  clearly 
belonged  to  a  people  who  believed  in  many  gods. 
That  is  perfectly  natural,  just  what  we  should 
expect  in  those  old  Semitic  races  from  which  Israel 
sprang,  when  "their  fathers  dwelt  of  old  time 
beyond  the  River,  even  Terah,  the  father  of 
Abraham  and  the  father  of  Nahor,  and  they 
served  other  gods"  (Josh.  xxiv.  2).  They  were 
blind  guesses  of  the  old  child-races  long  ago, 
puzzling  in  wonder  and  awe  over  the  mystery 
of  Creation — blind  guesses  about  a  Creator — 
may  we  not  say  blind  gropings  after  God.  At 
first  sight  we  should  feel  sure  that  they  could 
never  touch  the  Bible.  But  it  is  hard  to  judge  be- 
forehand what  may  or  not  happen  in  the  mysteri- 
ous working  of  God's  Providence.  At  any  rate,  if 
we  are  seeking  truth  we  must  face  the  facts  before 
us.  There  are  such  reminiscences  of  them  In 
the  great  epics  of  Genesis  that  we  cannot  escape 
the  feeling  that  there  must  be  some  connection. 


§  2.  In  1853,  Hormuzd  Rassam,  assistant 
to  Sir  Henry  Layard,  was  exploring  the  burled 
ruins  of  Nineveh  and  Nimrud  (note  the  name 
Nimrud,  Gcn.x.  i  o,  and  the  name  Erech  on  p.  58). 
There  he  came  on  the  large  collection  of  clay 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  57 

tablets  forming  the  library  of  Assurbanlpal,  King 
of  Nineveh,  which  he  at  once  sent  on  to  the 
British  Museum  to  await  deciphering.  In  these 
were  afterwards  found  the  now  famous  Creation 
and  Deluge  tablets. 

The  Creation  tablets  tell  a  story  too  long 
and  complicated  to  give  here  In  detail.  The 
main  thought  Is  that  In  the  beginning  was  chaos 
without  form  and  void,  from  which  sprang  the 
gods.  Their  resolve  to  create  a  world  leads  to 
a  mighty  conflict  between  Marduk  (Merodach, 
Jer.  1.  2)  the  sun  god,  the  god  of  Creation,  and 
Tiamat  the  great  Deep — the  mighty  dragon  of  the 
slime.  Marduk  cleaves  the  dragon  in  two  (see 
probably  a  curious  reminiscence  In  Isa.  li.  9,  "Art 
not  thou  he  who  wounded  the  Dragon?") .  From 
one  half  he  makes  the  firmament  to  keep  the 
upper  waters  ('the  waters  above  the  firmament' 
in  Genesis)  ;  from  the  other  half  he  makes  the 
earth.    Then  he  made  the  sun  and  the  stars. 

"He  caused  the  moon  god  to  shine  forth  and  entrusted  to  him 

the  night, 
Appointed  him  as  a  nightbody  to  determine  the  days." 

Then  came  the  plants  and  animals,  and  lastly 
man — 

"He  opened  his  mouth  and  to  Ea  (he  spake) 
•My  blood  will  I  take  and  bone  will  I  (fashion) 


58  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 


I  will  make  man  that  man  may  .  .  » 
I  -will  create  man  who  shall  inhabit   (the  earth?) 
That  the   service  of  the  gods  may  be   established  and  their 
shrines    .    .    .' " 


§  3.  The  resemblance  is  much  more  evident 
in  the  Deluge  legend.  In  1872,  George  Smith, 
the  famous  Assyrian  investigator,  was  working 
in  the  British  Museum  over  the  tile  inscriptions 
unearthed  by  Rassam  in  the  Nineveh  Palace 
Library.  Amongst  them  he  found  the  twelve 
tablets  of  the  Epic  of  King  Gilgamesh,  telling  the 
adventures  of  that  mighty  hunter  the  hero  of  Uruk 
(compare  Nimrod  the  builder  of  Erech  (Uruk), 
Gen.  X.  10)  in  his  search  after  immortality. 
Scholars  date  it  back  to  about  2000  B.  c.  The 
nth  tablet  (see  Photograph)  contains  a  Deluge 
story.  It  tells  that  in  the  city  of  Surripak 
on  the  Euphrates  the  gods  resolved  to  bring  about 
a  flood.  Their  resolve  was  communicated  to 
Hasisadra.  The  gods  bade  him  build  a  ship 
whose  height  should  be  120  cubits,  and  its  breadth 
120  cubits,  and  take  refuge  in  it  with  his  family 
and  slaves  and  stores  for  subsistence;  also  to 
bring  in  cattle  and  beasts  of  the  earth  to  keep 
seed  alive  on  the  earth.  He  built  the  ship  as 
directed,  and  pitched  it  within  and  without.  Then 
he  entered  in  and  closed  the  door.     Then  came 


i-K-Au-ViLAls   UF    li-iK   UliLLGK     lAHLEiS:    THli    ELEVENTH   TABLET 

OF  THE  Epic  of  Gilgamesh  containing  the  Deluge  Story. 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  59 

the  awful  storm  and  flood  at  which  the  gods  in 
heaven  were  frightened  and  wept.  The  flood 
lasted  six  days,  and  he  watched  the  corpses 
floating  by.  On  the  seventh  day  It  began  to 
subside,  and  after  seven  days  more  the  ship 
rested  on  the  mountains  of  Nizir.  Then  the 
poem  goes  on — 

"When  the  seventh  day  arrived 
I  brought  out  a  dove  and  let  it  go 
The  dove  went  to  and  fro 
As  there  was  no  resting  place  it  turned  back 
I  brought  forth  a  swallow  and  let  it  go 
As  there  was  no  resting-place  it  turned  back 
I  brought  forth  a  raven  and  let  it  go 
The  raven  went  forth  and  saw  the  decrease  of  the  waters 
It  ate,  it  waded,  it  croaked,  it  turned  not  back. 
Then  I  sent  forth,  everything  to  the  four  winds 

I  oflFered  sacrifice 
The  gods  smelt  the  savour 
The  gods  smelt  the  goodly  savour^ 
The  gods  gathered  like  flies  over  the  sacrifice. 
***«♦* 

Then  he  tells  how  the  goddess  Istar  lighted 
up  the  rainbow,  and  how  the  gods  pleaded  that 
all  should  not  be  destroyed,  only  the  sinners,  not 
the  righteous,  etc. 


§  4.     Now  when  we  find  poems  such  as  these 
coming    down.    It    Is    believed,    from    Abram's 

*  Compare  Gen.  viil.  zi^  "The  Lord  smelled  the  sweet  savour." 


60  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

day  and  from  the  birth-place  of  the  Hebrew 
race,  and  when  we  notice  their  curious  coin- 
cidences with  the  Genesis  story,  it  cannot  but 
set  us  thinking.  It  hardly  seems  unreasonable 
to  suppose  that  they  represent  a  version  of  some 
wide-spread  Creation  and  Deluge  legends  among 
the  peoples  from  whom  Israel  sprang;  or  to 
wonder  if  they  have  not  some  relation  to  our 
Bible. 

It  seems  startling  to  connect  the  noble  stories 
in  Genesis  with  these  grotesque  legends,  yet  the 
evidence  certainly  points  that  way.  That  there 
is  some  connection  is  beyond  question.  The 
earlier  cannot  be  a  corruption  of  the  later.  That 
both  should  have  sprung  from  an  earlier  com- 
mon source  does  not  help  us,  for  that  common 
source  in  those  pagan  days  would  differ  little 
from  that  which  we  have  found.  All  probability 
points  to  the  theory  in  which  most  modern  schol- 
ars  are  now  agreed,  that  the  early  wandering 
shepherds  of  the  Hebrews  were  familiar  with  the 
notions  of  the  race  from  which  they  came,  that 
these  old  legends  floated  down  for  centuries  in 
the  folklore  of  primitive  Israel,  that  mingling 
with  the  stream  of  thought  of  a  people  impressed 
by  the  presence  of  a  holy  God,  the  polytheism 
and  degrading  ideas  could  not  remain.  The  Spirit 
of  God  was  moving  on  the  face  of  the  waters, 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  61 

working,  as  It  is  the  economy  of  the  Divine 
method  to  work,  upon  existing  materials.  Priest 
and  prophet  and  pious  parent  would  tell  the  old 
story  In  the  light  of  their  religious  knowledge. 
And  so  while  their  form  remained  the  old  legends 
were  transfigured.  Passing  through  the  crucible  of 
faithful  souls  a  Divine  touch,  and  yet  a  Diviner 
touch  was  added  as  they  came  down  through 
the  years  till  the  simple  child  story  of  many  gods 
with  human  passions  became  the  story  of  the 
one  God  holy  and  just  who  made  the  sun  and  moon 
which  the  Chaldeans  worshipped  and  the  great 
bulls  to  which  the  Egyptians  prayed  and  as  the 
crown  and  summit  of  His  work  made  man  in 
His  image  after  His  likeness;  till  the  legend  of 
Paradise  was  touched  by  Inspiration  to  become 
a  vehicle  of  deepest  spiritual  truth,  of  the  rise 
of  conscience,  of  the  coming  of  evil,  of  the  dread 
which  every  man  feels  In  his  secret  sin  when  he 
hears  the  voice  of  the  Lord  God  In  the  garden 
In  the  cool  of  the  day  and  Is  afraid  and  hides 
himself.  Where  the  Babylonian  poet  saw  only 
the  action  of  deified  forces  of  nature  the  Hebrew 
writer  saw  the  working  of  God.  And  that  insight 
was  Inspiration. 

Then  when  priests  and  prophets  divinely 
guided  began  to  write  their  elementary  Bibles 
(see  next  chapter)  naturally  they  would  think  of 
beginning  at  the  Creation.     I  picture  to  myself 


62_         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

such  a  writer  meditating  on  those  purified  crea- 
tion stories  of  his  people,  till  they  emerged  from 
his  hand  in  that  prose  poem  which  has  come  down 
to  us  from  the  Bible  of  the  Priests,  "iN  THE  BE- 
GINNING  GOD  CREATED  THE  HEAVENS  AND  THE 
EARTH." 

True,  this  is  only  a  conjecture.  But  the  con- 
jecture has  strong  facts  behind  it.  And  If  it  be 
so  it  need  in  no  wise  disturb  our  faith.  If  things 
so  happened  it  was  surely  by  Divine  Inspiration. 
If  the  vague  thoughts  of  the  old  child  races  were 
thus  cleansed  from  their  corruption,  It  was  surely 
the  Spirit  of  God  that  cleansed  them,  and  "what 
God  hath  cleansed  that  call  not  thou  common." 
Therefore  none  the  less  we  regard  the  story  as 
inspired  in  the  form  in  which  it  has  come  to  us, 
the  form  "which  it  received  from  devout  Irael- 
ites  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God  and  penetrated 
with  the  belief  in  the  spiritual  Jehovah.  By 
saints  and  prophets  it  was  purified  and  hallowed 
that  It  might  subserve  the  divine  purpose  of 
transmitting  as  in  a  figure  to  future  generations 
spiritual  teaching  on  eternal  truths.^ 

2Ryle.    "Early  Narratives  of  Genesis." 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  63 


II 


In  our  Lost  Library  was  much  of 

'^^*^^®      ancient  song  and  story. 

and  Story.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  ultimate 

beginnings  of  Bible  history  and  litera- 
ture were  mainly  oral,  ballads  and  folk  songs 
recited  among  the  people;  stories  of  the  distant 
past  told  In  shepherds'  watches  and  around  the 
camp  fires,  and  afterwards  collected  In  groups  in 
literary  form:  laws  and  judgments,  some  of  them 
written,  most  of  them  handed  down  orally  for 
generations  by  the  priests  at  the  various  sanctu- 
aries. 

The  literature  of  almost  every  nation  begins 
with  easy  alliterative  verse,  songs  of  famous  men 
and  famous  deeds  sung  by  the  people  in  the 
early  days  when  writing  was  not  known  or  the 
people  could  not  read.  It  seems  to  have  been 
especially  so  In  Israel.  Most  of  the  direct  quota- 
tions from  ancient  sources  are  in  verse  and  are 
so  printed  in  the  English  Revised  Version.  The 
way  in  which  they  are  introduced  suggests  that 
they  usually  represent  the  older  original  sources 
used  by  the  Bible  writers  which,  by  the  way,  may 
be  the  explanation  of  the  poetical  rhythm  in 
much  of  our  Old  Testament  prose. 


64  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

We  can  almost  see  the  writer  using  his 
originals.  They  are  apparently  in  poetry  which 
he  Is  condensing  into  a  prose  story.  But  some- 
times his  poetical  instinct  is  too  strong  for  him 
and  he  gives  us  delightful  little  glimpses  of  the 
sources  before  him  by  lifting  direct  into  his  book 
a  bit  of  the  historic  song  which  Is  running  In  his 
head  or  which  is  written  in  his  ancient  manu- 
script and  so  enables  us  to  reproduce  In  part  the 
primitive  "song  and  story  literature." 

§  2.  Here  are  some  of  the  extracts,  amongst 
them  being  a  couple  of  pages  copied  direct  from 
the  Book  of  Jasher  and  one  extract  at  least  from 
the  Book  of  the  Wars  of  Jehovah. 

Wi)ii  ii  note  bone  of  mp  bone 

Jlnb  flesi)  of  mp  fiti\t» 
^{)t£(  one  !ii}aH  be  calleb  Moman 

Jfor  ftom  ilSan  boas;  &iit  taken, 
***** 

Cursfeb  £ff)alt  tf)ou  be  abobe  all  animali 
^nb  abobe  all  tbe  beas(ts:  of  tbe  eartf) 

0n  ttjp  bellp  sibalt  tbou  go 
!Snb  busit  sA^alt  tbou  eat. 

^af)  anb  Hiltab  b^ar&en  to  mp  botce, 
Mibti  of  Hametb  gibe  ear  unto  mp  iapinq, 

jfot  3  babe  ilain  a  man  for  ttiounbtng  me» 
!9nb  a  poung  man  for  bruisftng  me. 

3f  Cain  s^ball  be  abengeb  sfebenfolb* 
Xamecb  ^^b^H  be  ifebentp  anb  £(eben. 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  65 

^Xtiitti  of  STefjobaf)  he  Ibfjem, 
%tt  Canaan  be  a  sferbant  trnto  f}im, 

^ot  enlarge  STapIjet, 
%tt  Ibim  btoell  in  tfje  tente  of  ^tjem, 
Het  Canaan  be  a  £(etbant  unto  i^im. 


tKtoo  nattonjf  are  in  ttjp  hjomb, 

tS^bio  nations;  sdball  be  s^eparateb  from  tf)p  bobielt:, 
Wiit  one  people  gfjall  be  jftronger  tfjan  tbe  otber, 

janb  tlje  elber  gfjall  sierbe  tfje  pounger. 


^ap  ^ob  gibe  t^ee  of  tbe  beb)  of  Heaben, 

!lnb  of  tbe  fatnesfcf  of  tbe  earti), 
!Knb  plentp  of  corn  anb  biine, 

Het  peoples^  sierbe  tbee, 

ISnb  nations;  bobi  bobin  to  tfiee, 
Pe  lorb  ober  tbp  bretbren, 

0nb  let  tbp  motber'st  siom  bobi  bobin  to  tfiee, 
Cursfeb  be  eberpone  tgat  curgetb  tbee, 

anb  bleisfeb  be  eberpone  tfjat  blesfgetib  tfjee. 


jasiiemble  poursielbeg  anb  Ijear  pc,  sfons:  of  STacob, 

janb  bcarfeen  unto  Ssfrael  pour  fatber, 
3i&euben»  tI)ou  art  mp  firs^t  born. 

(etc.,  etc.    A  poem  of  twenty-seven  verses.) 


3  ioin  ssinq  unto  STetiobab,  for  be  Ijatf)  triumpl^eb  glorious;Ip; 

tS^be  bots(e  anb  i^ia  riber  batb  be  cas;t  into  tt)C  siea. 
STebobal)  ii  mp  sttrengt^  anb  mp  s;ong» 

jSfnb  is(  become  mp  lefalbation. 
STebobaf)  is;  a  man  of  tear, 

3re{)obaf)  is(  {)i£(  name. 

(etc..  etc.     A  poem  of  eighteen  verses.) 


66  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 


^nb  iHiri'am  anstoercb  tfjem, 
^ing  j>e  to  tfje  ILovh  for  fjc  tart)  tn'umpbcb  sloriousilp, 
Cte  Jjotrsfe  anb  ftiJf  ribcr  t)at|)  Ijc  caat  into  tfje  sfea. 


Vaheh  in  Suphak 

And  the  'valleys  of  Arnon 
And  the  slope  of  the  valleys 

That  inclinetk  towards  Ar. 
(Copied  from  the  Book  of  the  Wars  of  Jehovah  to  insert  in  Numb,  xxi.) 


jFrom  ^ram  fjatfi  IBalafe  brought  me, 
Wiit  ilmg  of  iHoab  from  ttie  mountains;  ot  t^e  tasit. 
Come  tutst  me,  STacob, 
Come  befp  me,  Sssrael. 

(etc.,  etc.     Three  extracts  from  the  Song  of  Balaam.) 


Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon  Giheon, 

And  thou,  moon,  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon. 
And  the  sun   stood  still  and  the   moon  stayed 
Until  the  nation  had  avenged  themselves  of  their  enemies, 
(Copied  from  the  Book  of  Jasher  to  insert  in  Josh,  x.) 


laiualte,  atoafee,  Beboraft! 

jatnabe,  atoafee,  utter  a  siongt 

!lrisfe,  ^arakl    Heab  captibitp  captibe* 

•  ♦  •  »  ♦ 

tE^e  riber  of  JsS^m  jtoept  tljem  atoap, 
tCfjat  ancient  riber,  tbe  riber  of  ili^tjon, 
tKben  bib  tbe  ijorsfe  boofsf  itamp 
Mi^  tbe  pran£(ing£(,  tbe  prans(ings(  of  tbe  mi^ii?  mt%, 

JSXtsisit^  abobe  b)omen  sd^all  Sfael  be, 
^e  biife  of  fleber  tbe  Henite, 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  67 

mater  ^e  aahttif  mtlft  siftt  gabe, 

CnrbUb  milk  in  a  lottUp  ti^* 
^f)t  put  tier  iianti  to  ttft  nail, 
9nb  fitv  rtgtt  ii^nb  to  tiie  iDor&man'fii  tatnmet 
Ilea  sii)t  pterceb  anb  sftruck  tbrotisti  f^ia  templeie;, 

2t  tier  feet  te  botoeb,  ije  felU  fie  lap  bofaon 

0t  i)er  feet  te  botaeb»  i)e  fell 
ISiiere  i)t  bobieb  t^ere  tie  fell  boton  beab. 

^roufit)  ttie  iombob)  il^t  peereb  anb  lottblp  trteo 
^e  mother  of  ^i£;era  tfjrousti  tlje  lattice, 
IffltiP  is!  tJi^S  tljariot  sio  long  in  comins? 
K9t)P  tielap  tt)e  clatter  of  tlje  tioofsi  of  f)i^  ftnxml 
Wot  iointit  of  tier  labieis  ansrtuereb  tier 
Hea  gfje  anstoereb  tier  ofcon  question 

**  jarc  ttiep  not  finbing,  bibibing  ttje  jefpoil? 
M  bams^el  or  ttoo  for  eaclb  of  ttie  men, 
Jfor  ^isfera  a  jfpoil  of  tjptti  sftuffs 
^  ipoil  of  bpeb  sitnfii  embroibereb 
29  piece  or  ttoo  of  embroiberp  for  tiiia^  neck/* 

^  let  all  ttiine  enemies;  perisfti*  ^  BTetiobalb 
iBut  ttie?  tutio  lobe  f)im  sfti^ll  be  ai  tfie  s:un  tn  inbincible 
siplenbour. 


Thy  glory,  O  Israel,  is  slain  on  thy  high  places; 

Hoiv  are  the  mighty  fallen! 
Tell  it  not  in  Gath 

Publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Askelon, 
Lest  the  daughters  of  the  Philistines  rejoice 
Lest  the  daughters  of  the  uncircumcised  triumph 

etc.,  etc. 

This  "Song  of  the  Bow"  was  first  taught  orally  to  the  people 
and  afterwards  preserved  in  the  Book  of  Jasher,  from  which  it 
was  copied  for  use  in  z  Sam.  I. 


68  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

All  this  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  way  In 
which  by  means  of  verse,  history  was  transmitted 
orally  from  generation  to  generation.  But  this 
does  not  by  any  means  Indicate  the  amount  of 
poetical  composition.  All  the  prophecies  before 
the  Exile  were  poems,  and  the  majority  of  those 
later.  Job  Is  a  great  dramatic  poem.  The  deeds 
of  national  heroes  were  commemorated  In  verse, 
the  conqueror  came  from  battle  to  the  sound  of 
singing,  "Saul  hath  slain  his  thousands  and  David 
his  ten  thousands"  (i  Sam.  xviil.  7).  The  dig- 
ging of  the  well  of  Heshbon  is  celebrated  In  a 
ballad  (Num.  xxl.  17).  There  are  harvest  songs 
and  drinking  songs  and  wedding  and  love  songs 
(see  an  exquisite  collection  In  the  Book  of  Canti- 
cles). The  Book  of  Jasher  seems  to  have  been 
such  a  ballad  collection,  as  also  the  "Book  of 
the  Wars  of  Jehovah." 


§  3.  Ballad  history  has  the  advantage  of 
being  easily  remembered  and  transmitted,  and 
also  of  being  less  liable  than  prose  to  changes 
In  transmission.  And  beside  the  ballads  would 
run  the  stream  of  oral  tradition;  the  legends  of 
the  patriarchs  which  gathered  round  their  chief 
centres,  Schechem  and  Hebron  and  Bethel  and 
Shiloh;  the  stories  told  in  the  lonely  pastures 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  69 

"when  shepherds  watched  their  flocks  by  night," 
or  recited  by  practised  story-tellers  at  the  feasts 
and  tribal  gatherings.  We  must  put  ourselves 
in  their  place  to  realize  the  position.  Picture 
the  crowds  going  up  to  worship  at  any  of  the 
sanctuaries,  and  hearing  every  time  its  patri- 
archal legends.  Picture  the  village  girls  in  the 
(evening  at  the  well  loitering  over  the  tale  of  the 
Wooing  of  Rebecca;  and  the  rude,  rough  shep- 
herds laughing  in  their  delight  over  the  oft-told 
Story  of  Samson  tricking  the  stupid  Philistines. 

Thus  would  the  common  people  learn  the 
brave  deeds  of  old,  sometimes  lightly  in  heed- 
less mood,  sometimes  more  seriously  as  the 
thought  of  God  came  in,  in  His  dealings  with 
Jacob,  in  the  deeds  of  the  Judges,  in  the  solemn 
days  when  Moses  led  their  fathers  through  the 
Wilderness. 

This  is  a  common  phenomenon  of  life  to-day 
in  the  unchanging  East.  Eastern  history  mainly 
springs  from  such  sources.  We  can  hardly  be 
wrong  in  transferring  it  to  those  older  days. 
Life  was  dull ;  there  were  no  newspapers  or  books. 
There  was  not  much  to  talk  of.  So  the  old 
stories  would  be  greatly  prized  and  memory  with 
no  books  to  lean  on  could  perform  feats  impos- 
sible to  us,  and  carry  on  history  through  many 
generations. 


70  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

III 

In  this  way  must  have  been  trans- 
The  Lives  niltted  the  story  of  the  Patriarchs. 
Patriarchs.    ^^^  ^^^^  written  record  we  have  is 

in  the  ^'Northern  and  Southern  Bibles'' 
(Elohist  and  Jahvist,  see  next  chapter),  about 
the  ninth  or  tenth  century,  B.C.  There  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  they  got  it  from  earlier 
sources  oral  or  written  In  the  same  way  as  they 
tell  us  they  got  the  rest  of  their  history,  and  these 
sources  in  turn  must  have  gone  back  to  still 
earlier  times.  These  Northern  and  Southern 
versions  of  the  story  vary  somewhat  from  each 
other  much  as  the  Four  Gospels  do,  or  as  any 
story  might  be  expected  to  do  when  transmitted 
through  different  channels.  But  in  the  main  they 
corroborate  each  other.  All  this  points  to  a  real 
story  of  real  people  come  down  through  the  sepa- 
rate traditions  of  the  North  and  South. 

§  2.  It  IS  difficult  to  understand  its  oral 
transmission  through  so  long  an  interval.  Prob- 
ably there  were  written  records.  Writing  was 
well  known  even  in  Abram's  day.  But,  it  is  only 
fair  to  say,  we  have  no  hint  of  such,  and  we 
notice  that  while  these  **bibles"  tell  repeatedly  of 
written    authorities    for   certain   parts   of   their 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  71 

Mosaic  history  (Exod.  xxvli.  14,  xxiv.  4,  7;  Num. 
xxxiii.  2,  xxl.  14;  Deut.  xxxi.  9;  Josh.  x.  13), 
no  such  authorities  are  quoted  for  the  Genesis 
narrative.  If  there  were  none  then  it  must  have 
come  by  oral  tradition  through  the  age  of  song 
and  story  in  Israel's  early  life.  It  must  be  so 
unless  they  were  all  pure  invention.  And  even 
judging  the  Bible  by  the  rules  of  ordinary  secular 
history,  that  is  a  solution  which  no  serious  scholar 
would  accept  for  a  moment.  For  it  would  raise 
far  greater  difficulties  than  that  of  the  oral  trans- 
mission. Surely  it  would  be  a  stretch  of  credul- 
ity to  believe  that  a  history  which  has  so  grown 
Into  the  life  and  literature  of  Israel  has  no  reality 
behind  it,  merely  because  it  is  difficult  to  explain 
how  it  came  down.  Why  the  whole  history  of 
Israel  would  have  to  be  rewritten  from  the  begin- 
ning if  we  had  to  leave  out  the  patriarchs.  All 
over  it  In  every  age  in  song  and  story  and  history 
and  prophecy  are  the  traces  of  them.  Every- 
where it  Is  assumed  that  Jehovah  their  God  Is 
the  God  of  their  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham 
and  Isaac  and  Jacob.  How  could  this  be  ac- 
counted for  unless  it  were  true?  Why  should 
the  early  prophets  and  writers  of  Scripture  speak 
of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  as  so  conspicuous  in 
past  history?^     Why  should  Israel  carry  back  its 

iSee  Micah  vll.  20;  Isa.  xxix.  33;  i  Kings  xviii.  36.    Cf.  z 
Kings  xiii,  23  and  Jer.  xxxiii.  26. 


72  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

history  at  all  behind  Moses  their  Founder  if 
that  history  were  not  already  existing?  And  if 
one  should  suppose  that  they  invented  it,  why 
should  any  proud  people  invent  such  a  discredit- 
able story  telling  of  their  degrading  origin  as 
slaves — telling  of  their  holy  ancestor  Abraham 
lying  shamefully  and  repeatedly  about  his  wife; 
of  Israel,  whose  name  they  bore,  cheating  his 
old  blind  father;  of  Judah,  the  head  of  a  great 
tribe,  sinning  with  Tamar  the  Canaanitess;  of 
Reuben,  committing  incest  with  his  father's  con- 
cubine. Nations  do  not  usually  invent  stories 
such  as  those  about  their  past.  And  how  did 
Moses  come  to  the  slaves  in  Egypt,  assuming  their 
knowledge  of  such  past  history?  The  mission 
of  Moses  is  hardly  intelligible  except  there  was 
some  previous  religious  preparation.  The  whole 
Exodus  history  declares  that  he  did  not  proclaim 
any  unknown  God  or  any  new  religion.  The 
story  enshrined  in  the  national  memory  makes 
it  all  simple  and  intelligible,  *'The  God  of  your 
fathers  hath  sent  me  to  you,  the  God  of  Abraham 
and  Isaac  and  Jacob." 


§  3.     It  has  been  suggested  that  the  Patri- 
archal story  may  be  perhaps  a  history  of  personi- 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  73 

fied  tribes,  a  sort  of  parable  story,  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob  being  the  names  of  clans,  mar- 
riage signifying  the  union  of  clans,  death  the 
extinction  of  a  clan,  etc.  Such  legends  have  ap- 
peared In  the  traditions  of  other  nations.  But 
there  seems  no  basis  for  such  a  theory  beyond 
the  bare  fact  that  Israel  Is  often  called  by  the 
name  of  Its  great  ancestor.  No  one  ever  heard 
of  a  tribe  or  people  called  Abram  or  Isaac,  while 
the  names  are  common  In  ancient  days  as  personal 
names.  Possibly  the  tribal  histories  affected  the 
stories  in  their  transmission,  but  they  are  cer- 
tainly no  mere  stories  of  personified  tribes.  Let 
any  one  try  to  read  the  story  In  Genesis  as  a 
historical  parable,  and  see  how  hopeless  Is  the 
attempt.  Then  read  It  as  a  simple  tale  of  real 
flesh-and-blood  men,  following  their  ordinary 
avocations,  working  and  travelling  and  loving 
and  suffering  and  sinning  and  struggling  in  their 
poor  way  after  God  and  Right — and  It  must  be 
evident  that  the  narrators  were  depicting  ordi- 
nary life  and  that  the  first  written  histories  were 
recording  traditions  enshrined  in  the  national  con- 
sciousness generation  after  generation. 


§  4.     Perhaps  we  are  exaggerating  the  diffi- 
culty of  such  long  oral  transmission  in  days  when 


74  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

nearly  all  history  had  to  be  transmitted  orally 
and  memory  in  consequence  was  more  highly 
tenacious  especially  in  the  case  of  great  national 
events  or  great  national  celebrities.  I  have  just 
met  with  a  striking  instance  of  two  men  carry- 
ing the  tradition  of  a  special  occurrence  connected 
with  Yale  College  over  a  space  of  172  years.  It 
happened  when  the  first  was  a  boy  of  eight  years 
of  age,  and  when  he  was  an  old  man  the  other 
as  a  young  student  heard  him  tell  it  in  public.^ 
There  are  many  instances  recorded  where  a  suc- 
cession of  four  or  five  men  have  carried  on  a 
tradition  for  centuries. 

Assuming  the  story  of  the  Patriarchs  to  be 
substantially  true  these  ancestors  of  the  race  were 
very  conspicuous  men  in  the  eyes  of  their  de- 
scendants. The  lives  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and 
Jacob  would  be  well  known  to  Joseph  and  his 
brethren.  A  race  of  men  in  Egyptian  slavery 
would  be  hkely  to  cherish  the  stories  of  the  past, 
especially  if  they  contained  promises  of  good 
days  to  come.  The  great  crises  of  the  Exodus 
suggesting  a  fulfilment  of  such  hopes  might  well 
deepen  and  intensify  the  memory  of  the  old  tradi- 
tions. If,  as  many  scholars  believe,  part  of  the 
Hebrew  race  never  went  to  Egypt,  but  remained 
still  in  Canaan,  these  traditions  might  also  be 
1  Gregory,  "Canon  and  Text  of  New  Testament,"  p.  161. 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  75 

preserved  In  the  chief  centres  of  the  Patriarchs' 
lives  In  that  land. 

We  can  only  conjecture.  There  are  diffi- 
culties about  these  far-reaching  traditions,  but 
there  can  be  no  serious  question  that  they  had 
substantial  historlal  facts  behind  them.  There- 
fore we  unhesitatingly  place  them  in  that  long 
lost  lore  which  existed  for  many  centuries  before 
the  Bible. 

§  5.  We  must  freely  recognize  that  after 
many  centuries  of  oral  transmission  we  cannot 
feel  confident  of  accuracy  in  details.  Bards  and 
story  tellers  were  likely  in  some  degree  to  ideal-* 
ize  their  heroes.  Stories  might  grow  and  be 
altered  in  transmission.  Probably  confusion 
would  sometimes  arise,  as  In  cases  where  a  sim- 
ilar story  is  told  of  Abraham  and  of  Isaac  (cf. 
Gen.  xii.  and  xxvi.).  Let  all  this  be  granted  to 
the  full.  But  this  does  not  affect  the  substantial 
truth  of  the  story  or  bid  us  doubt  that  we  are 
dealing  with  traditions  of  real  men  and  women 
current  in  some  form  from  very  early  days. 

Let  imagination  conjure  up  those  early  days 
and  the  primitive  child  race  which  thus  learned 
its  religion.  What  conjectures  and  emotions  it 
sets  stirring  in  one's  mind  I  Was  the  Providence 
of  God  protecting  these  old  legends?     Did  the 


76  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

slaves  in  Egypt  tell  them  to  each  other?  Was 
this  the  religious  knowledge  which  made  Joseph 
such  a  hero?  Did  Moses'  mother  teach  it  to 
her  boy  when  she  nursed  him  in  the  palace  of 
Pharaoh's  daughter?  How  otherwise  did  Moses 
begin  to  learn  about  Jehovah?  Was  this  part 
of  the  thought  in  the  inspired  writer's  mind  when 
he  tells  that  "God  Who  spake  to  the  fathers  in 
many  times  and  in  many  manners  hath  in  these 
last  days  spoken  unto  us  by  His  Son"? 

IV 

In  our  Lost  Library  were  also, 
The  Mosaic  as  we  shall  see  later,  the  sources  of 
Writings,  the  Pentateuch  laws  and  Mosaic  his- 
tory. We  are  assuming  here  the  con- 
clusion in  which  now  practically  all  scholars  are 
agreed  that  the  Pentateuch  as  it  stands  to-day  is 
a  compilation  from  earlier  sources,  a  completed 
edition  of  the  story  of  Moses  and  of  various 
collections  of  laws  whose  origin  and  nucleus  go 
back  to  Moses'  day. 

In  our  Lost  Library  then,  say  about  the  time 
of  King  David,  we  should  find  not  our  completed 
Pentateuch  but  separate  sources  of  it,  such  as 
the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Book  of  the  Cov- 
enant   (Exod.  XX.   to  xxiii.),  the  law  of  Holi- 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  77 

ness  (Lev.  xvil.  to  xxvi.),  the  history  of  Battles, 
the  Itinerary  of  the  Wanderings,  codes  of  Laws, 
some  of  them  written,  some  of  them  existing 
orally  in  the  several  sanctuaries  In  the  memories 
of  the  priests  who  dispensed  justice. 

Later  on  we  shall  find  collections  of  this 
material,  in  the  Northern  and  Southern  Bibles, 
and  in  the  Bible  of  the  Priests.  The  writers  of 
course  got  their  matter  from  the  earlier  sources 
existing  in  their  day,  some  of  It  oral,  certainly 
some  of  It  written,  and  amongst  these  written 
sources  some  which,  at  least  in  their  opinion, 
had  come  from  the  hand  of  Moses  himself.  They 
tell  us  that  "Moses  wrote  in  a  book"  the  Battle 
with  Amalek  (Exod.  xvll.  14),  and  the  Desert 
Journeys  (Num.  xxxill.  2),  and  the  Book  of  the 
Covenant  (Exod.  xx.  to  xxlii.,  see  Exod.  xxiv. 
4-7),  and  other  collections  of  laws  (Exod.  xxiv. 
7 ;  xxxlv.  27) .  Apparently  they  knew  these  books 
or  knew  about  them  and  believed  Moses  to  be 
the  author.  Even  If  they  were  mistaken  In  that 
opinion  It  Is  evident  at  any  rate  that  there  were 
about  the  tenth  century  B.C.  some  written  books 
so  ancient  that  they  could  be  attributed  to  Moses. 


§  2.     For  our  belief  In  inspiration  and  In  the 
Divine  guidance  of  Moses  and  the  Jewish  Church, 


78  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

it  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  think  that  every  jot 
and  tittle  of  the  laws  in  the  Pentateuch  came  from 
Moses  himself.  The  laws  of  Solon  in  Athens, 
the  laws  of  Moses,  the  psalms  of  David,  the 
proverbs  of  Solomon  would  naturally  take  the 
name  of  the  man  who  originated  them.  All  the 
evidence  points  to  the  belief  that  the  great  leader 
gave  his  people  judgments  and  laws  which  were 
at  least  the  nucleus  of  the  future  codes.  But  it 
is  evident  that  change  of  time  and  circumstances 
necessitated  additions  to  these  which  were  added 
of  course  by  his  successors. 

We  have  most  interesting  glimpses  of  the 
growth  of  the  laws.  Moses  is  sitting  to  judge  the 
people  from  morning  till  evening.  *'I  judge,"  he 
says  to  his  father-in-law,  "between  a  man  and 
his  neighbour,  and  I  make  them  know  the  statutes 
of  God  and  His  laws"  (Exod.  xvIII.  i6).  Then 
Jethro  advises  the  appointment  of  subordinate 
judges  who  would  have  to  be  guided  In  their 
decisions  by  some  simple  laws.  Long  afterwards 
we  find  Deborah  under  the  palm  tree  at  Lapldoth, 
where  the  people  came  to  her  for  judgment 
(Judges  iv.  5),  and  Samuel  going  in  circuit  to 
Bethel  and  Gllgal  and  MIzpah,  and  he  judged 
Israel  in  all  these  places  (i  Sam.  vii.  17). 

Thus  decisions  would  naturally  be  generalized 
and  codes  of  law  would  grow   and  the  judges 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  79 

would  feel  that  they  were  under  the  guidance  of 
God. 

There  seems  no  reason  either  why  Moses  or 
his  successors  should  not  have  adapted  to  their 
purpose  some  good  laws  already  existing  in  the 
civilized  countries  around.  In  fact,  we  know 
that  they  did  so.  The  French  excavators  at  Susa 
In  1 90 1  came  on  a  most  Interesting  find,  the  laws 
of  the  Babylonian  King  Hammurabi  (supposed 
to  be  the  Amraphel  of  Gen.  xiv.)  written  on 
a  great  stone  block  belonging  probably  to  about 
2150  B.C.  (about  the  time  of  Abraham).  See 
Photograph.  Compare  some  of  Its  sections  with 
the  "Book  of  the  Covenant,"  which  Is  considered 
to  be  amongst  the  oldest  part  of  the  laws  in 
the  Pentateuch. 


Hammurabi.  Exodus. 

§§  196,  200.  If  a  man  hath  xxl.     22.      If    any    mischief 

caused  the  loss  of  another's  eye  follow  then  thou  shalt  give  life 

then  some  one  shall  cause  his  for  life,  eye  for  eye,  tooth  for 

eye    to    be    lost.       If    he    hath  tooth,  hand  for  hand,  foot  for 

broken     another's     limb      (or  foot, 
tooth)    some    one    shall    break 
his  limb  (or  tooth). 

§§  199,  201.  If  he  hath  caused  xxl.  26.  If  a  man  smite  the 

the  loss  of  the  eye  or  limb  of  eye  (or  tooth)  of  his  servant  or 

a  man's  servant,,  then  shall  he  of  his  maid  and  destroy  it,  then 

pay  half  his  price.     If  he  hath  shall  he  let  him  go  for  his  eye's 

ccaused  the  loss  of  a  tooth  of  a  (or  tooth's)  sake, 
freed  slave,  then  shall  he  pay 
one-third  of  a  mina  of  silver. 


80 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 


§250.  If  a  savage  ox  in  his 
charge  hath  gored  a  man  and 
caused  him  to  die,  then  that 
case  hath  no  recompense. 

§251.  But  if  the  goring  ox 
hath  made  known  his  vice 
that  he  gores  and  the  owner 
hath  not  blunted  his  horns  or 
secured  the  ox,  and  this  ox 
gores  and  slays  a  freeborn  man, 
then  his  owner  shall  pay  .   .   . 

§  252.  If  it  gore  a  man's 
servant,  the  owner  shall  pay 
one-third  of  a  mina  of  silver. 


§  125.  If  a  man  hath  placed 
anything  on  deposit  and  some- 
thing hath  been  lost  the  owner 
of  the  house  shall  make  good 
and  then  seek  out  and  recover 
it  from  the  thief. 


XXI.  28,  29.  If  an  ox  gore  a 
man  or  woman  that  they  die, 
the  owner  of  the  ox  shall  be 
quit.  But  if  the  ox  were 
wont  to  gore  in  time  past,  and 
it  hath  been  testified  to  the 
owner,  and  he  hath  not  kept 
him  in,  but  that  he  hath 
killed  a  man  or  woman,  then 
shall  the  ox  be  stoned,  and  the 
owner  put  to  death. 

xxi.  32.  If  the  ox  gore  a 
servant  he  shall  give  unto 
their  master  thirty  shekels  of 
silver,  and  the  ox  shall  be 
stoned. 

xxii.  7.  If  a  man  shall 
deliver  unto  his  neighbour 
money  or  stuff  to  keep,  and  it 
be  stolen  out  of  the  man's 
house,  if  the  thief  be  found,  he 
shall  pay  double. 


What  does  this  show?  That  the  wise  old 
law-giver  and  his  successors  had  the  good  sense 
to  use  or  modify  and  incorporate  In  their  code, 
laws  which  had  proved  their  value  among  other 
peoples.  "Grant  us/'  says  the  Whitsuntide  col- 
lect, *'Grant  us  by  the  same  Spirit  to  have  a 
right  judgment  In  all  things."  This  right  judg- 
ment which  Israel's  law-givers  used  Is  surely  one 
of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  If  any  man  should 
think  that  the  only  possible  inspiration  would  be 


Photographed  by  Mansell  &  Co. 

THE  BLACK  DIORITE  BLOCK  FOUND  IN  SUSA  1901, 

Representing  King  Hammurabi  Receiving  from  his  God  the  laws  which 
are  inscribed  underneath. 


SOME  CONTENTS  OF  THE  LOST  LIBRARY  81 

a  mechanical  dictating  of  every  law  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  Moses,  then  he  has  simply  got  to  cor- 
rect his  views  of  inspiration.  The  facts  do  not 
fit  them. 


The  Rest  ^^  ^^^  years  went  on,  through  the 

of  the  Providence  of  God,  all  unconsciously 
ReHgious  nien  were  gathering  and  preserving 
Literature,  j^^^erial  for  the  Bible  that  was  to  be. 
The  ballads  and  poems  grew  into  collections  like 
the  Book  of  Jasher.  The  legends  were  brought 
together  in  connected  cycles  and  put  in  literary 
form.  From  the  School  of  the  Prophets  came 
the  vivid  story  of  Elijah  and  his  compeers,  and 
doubtless  very  much  more  of  such  history  besides. 
In  the  various  sanctuaries  priests  gathered  their 
laws  and  oral  traditions.  There  were  historical 
notes  by  the  official  Recorders  (2  Samuel  viii.  16; 
I  Kings  iv.  3,  etc.).  Many  of  the  earliest 
prophets  were  writers  of  books,  a  tantalizing 
list  that  we  can  never  now  examine,  the  Books 
of  Nathan  and  Gad  and  Jehu  and  Iddo  the  Seer 
and  Shemaiah  and  the  rest.  Then  there  were 
the  collections  of  Proverbs  by  the  men  of  Heze- 
kiah  and  others  (Prov.  xxv.  i).  There  were 
psalms   and  sacred  lyrics  In  the   First  Temple, 


82  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

and  amongst  the  people.  (No  critic  can  persuade 
us  that  this  poetry  loving  Israel  reserved  its  songs 
of  praise  till  the  days  of  the  Exile.)  And  last, 
but  not  least,  came  the  Sermons  of  the  Great 
Prophets,  which  were  one  day  to  stand  out  so 
prominently  in  the  Bible. 

Be  it  remembered  that  all  this  material  was 
not  yet  regarded  as  ^'Bible''  in  our  sense  of  the 
word.  It  was  simply  the  religious  literature  of 
ancient  Israel. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE   "bibles  before  THE  BIBLE" 


Now  that  we  have  found  so  much  of 
How  Pro-     the  material  for  the  Old  Testament, 

History       ^^^  ^^  S^^  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^  making. 

So  far  as  we  can  judge  this  mak- 
ing proceeded  gradually.  First  came  written  col- 
lections of  the  old  ballads  and  legends,  such  as 
the  Book  of  Jasher,  the  Book  of  the  Upright, 
probably  a  book  of  heroic  ballads  about  the  great 
men  of  the  past — and  the  Book  of  the  Wars  of 
Jehovah,  a  collection  doubtless  of  warlike  nar- 
ratives of  the  brave  days  of  old.  There  were 
probably  several  such  collections  now  lost  to  us 
for  ever. 

Then  came  earnest  prophets  and  teachers 
touched  by  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah,  teaching  and 
illustrating  from  the  story  of  the  past  great  les- 
sons of  God  and  Life  and  Duty.  They  were 
not  so  much  concerned  with  the  details  of  the 

83 


84  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

history  as  with  its  solemn  lessons.  They  selected 
what  they  wanted  to  illustrate  their  themes. 
They  left  out  what  they  did  not  want.  They 
would  probably  not  be  regarded  in  our  day  as 
scientific  historians.  But  it  might  be  good  for 
us  if  more  of  their  spirit  were  in  our  histories 
to-day. 

Take  for  example  the  collection  of  legends 
of  the  Judges  which  grew  up  at  the  several  cen- 
tres where  they  lived.  Then  see  the  inspired 
prophet  writer  taking  these  stories  and  placing 
them  in  the  setting  suitable  for  his  purpose.  See 
his  continually  recurring  formula — 

The    Children   of   Israel   sinned   against  the 

Lord, 
And    the    Lord    sold    them    unto    the    hand 

of  ..  . 
The  the   Children   of   Israel   cried  unto  the 

Lord, 
And  the  Lord  raised  up  unto  them  a  deliverer. 

That  IS  the  setting  or  framework  of  his  pictures. 
The  whole  story  is  told  in  a  continuous  cycle  of 
sinning  and  suffering  and  repenting  and  deliver- 
ance and  sinning  again  and  suffering  and  repent- 
ing and  deliverance,  and  behind  it  all  is  a  loving 


THE  '^ BIBLES  BEFORE  THE  BIBLE"    85 

holy  God.  It  IS  the  inspired  writer's  view  of  the 
philosophy  of  history.  He  is  not  content  with 
the  outward  phenomena.  He  wants  ^'to  see  the 
wheels  go  round.'*  And  to  him  God  is  behind 
the  wheels.  That  is  where  his  inspiration  comes 
in. 

Is  not  that  mainly  where  our  English  history 
differs  from  that  of  the  ancient  Jews?  Surely 
God  is  behind  our  history  too.  In  the  days  of 
the  Armada  we  openly  said  so.  But  our  historians 
do  not  look  much  for  Him.  They  show  us  the 
outward  happenings.  They  show  us,  as  it  were, 
a  closed  clock,  and  trace  the  movements  of  the 
hands.  The  old  prophets  showed  a  skeleton 
clock  with  the  springs  and  wheels  in  sight.  Per- 
haps they  did  not  always  explain  the  movements 
truly.    But  they  tried. 

In  this  spirit  doubtless  was  written  the  old 
lost  books  of  Gad  and  Iddo  the  Seer,  and  She- 
maiah  and  the  rest  of  them.  In  this  spirit  were 
written  other  and  more  important  sacred  his- 
tories which  we  have  now  to  tell  of — "Bibles 
before  the  Bible,"  I  call  them — which  were  after- 
wards worked  in  in  the  making  of  the  Pentateuch. 
They  belong  to  the  Lost  Library,  but  we  have 
recovered  parts  of  them.  First  of  them  comes 
the  Bible  of  Southern  Judah,  the  Jahvist  Bible. 


86  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

I 

It  came  to  pass  In  the  days  of  the 

The  Bible     prophet   Elijah   that    God    raised   up 

of  Southern  ,  \        .  ,         ,       ^ 

Judah.       another  prophet  tar  greater  than  he — 

not  for  preaching  to  crowds  nor  for 
striving  with  kings,  but  for  greater  and  more 
enduring  work.  A  scholar,  a  historian,  a  literary 
artist,  a  man  deeply  touched  by  the  Spirit  of 
Jehovah,  he  took  for  his  great  life  task  the  mak- 
ing of  a  Bible  that  Israel  might  know  the  Lord. 
No  man  knows  the  name  or  the  habitation  of  this 
silent  worker.  But  his  work  remains  his  monu- 
ment for  ever. 

I  picture  him  in  his  workroom  in  the  city  of 
Jerusalem,  or  away  amid  the  hills  in  the  School 
of  the  Prophets.  He  is  familiar  with  the  great 
national  traditions  current  in  his  day.  He  and 
his  disciples  have  collected  books  of  our  "Lost 
Library."  They  have  gathered  cycles  of  legends 
from  the  several  sanctuaries;  stories  of  Jacob, 
which  clustered  around  Bethel  and  Shiloh  and 
Mahanalm;  stories  of  Isaac  from  Beersheba; 
of  Abram  from  Shechem  and  Hebron  and 
other  sacred  places;  histories  both  oral  and 
written  of  the  great  days  of  Moses  specially 
cherished  for  centuries  in  the  memories  of  the 
people.    Codes  of  laws  were  of  course  the  easiest 


THE   "BIBLES  BEFORE  THE  BIBLE '^    87 

to  obtain,  since  they  were  in  common  use  in  the 
administering  of  justice. 

But  our  silent  old  prophet  does  not  trouble 
much  with  laws,  it  is  the  history  that  stirs  his 
blood.  His  attitude  is  that  of  the  Church  in  her 
litany,  "O  God,  we  have  heard  with  our  ears 
and  our  fathers  have  declared  to  us  the  noble 
works  that  thou  didst  in  their  days,  and  in  the 
old  time  before  them.''  He  is  no  mere  collector, 
no  mere  dry  historian.  He  is  an  enthusiast.  He 
is  also  a  great  literary  as  well  as  spiritual  genius. 
By  frequent  dialogues  and  picturesque  vocabu- 
lary he  gives  charm  to  his  story.  His  heart  is 
in  his  work.  He  feels  what  he  is  writing  and 
therefore  makes  his  readers  feel.  He  makes 
us  share  the  silent  pain  of  Abraham  sacrificing 
his  son.  He  makes  our  children  flush  with  intense 
interest  over  Joseph  in  Egypt.  From  him  our 
Bible  gets  the  story  of  Jacob  and  Esau,  and  to 
this  day  he  makes  the  lump  rise  in  our  throats 
as  we  listen  to  poor  Esau's  sobbing  cry,  "Bless 
me,  even  me  also,  O  my  father!"  Doubtless  the 
credit  is  not  entirely  his.  Narratives  that  had 
come  down  to  him  through  many  generations 
of  story  tellers  would  in  any  case  have  acquired 
vivid  dramatic  interest.  But  his  whole  collected 
history  is  so  full  of  charm,  that  we  cannot  help 
feeling  that  this  man  was  a  literary  artist. 


88'         THE  BIBLE  IN  .THE  MAKING 

The  important  thing,  however,  Is  that  he  was 
much  more  than  an  artist.  He  was  a  holy  saint 
and  prophet  of  God.  He  had  pondered  deeply 
over  life's  questions  and  problems  in  the  light  of 
Jehovah's  presence.  How  did  sin  enter  this 
beautiful  world?  How  did  the  world  itself  come 
into  being?  Why  is  a  woman's  highest  joy  asso- 
ciated with  pain?  Above  all,  what  is  the  rela- 
tion of  God  to  man — that  God  whom  he  felt 
speaking  in  his  soul?  And  many  noble  answers 
came  to  him  from  above.  His  science  was  only 
the  science  of  his  time.  He  had  to  use  the  na- 
tional myths  and  legends  to  express  his  great 
thoughts.  His  history  cannot  always  be  trusted 
for  accurate  details — he  could  not  help  that,  with 
the  sources  accessible  to  him.  But  no  devout 
reader  can  peruse  the  fragments  of  his  book 
which  remain  to  us  without  feeling  that  he  was 
a  teacher  inspired  of  God. 

He  gives  us  our  first  written  version  of  the: 
Pentateuch  story.  The  full  contents  of  his  book 
we  shall  never  know  since  it  has  gone  with  the 
rest  of  the  Lost  Books  of  Israel.  But  much 
of  it  has  been  disinterred  from  our  present 
Bible.  It  evidently  began  with  a  Creation  Story 
which  Is  inserted  in  our  Bible,  beginning  In  the 
middle  of  the  verse  Gen.  ii.  4  *'In  the  day  that 
the  Lord  God  (Jehovah  Elohim)  made  the  earth 


THE  ''BIBLES  BEFORE  THE  BIBLE"    89 

and  the  heavens."  Notice  the  title  JEHOVAH 
which  is  persistently  avoided  by  the  other  writers 
in  Genesis.  They  are  evidently  influenced  by 
the  theory  of  their  day  resting  on  the  declaration 
in  Exod.  vi.  3.  ''I  appeared  to  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob  by  the  name  of  God  Almighty,  but 
by  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known  unto 
them." 

Our  author  does  not  seem  to  know  this  state- 
ment. It  does  not  appear  at  all  in  his  book.  In 
fact  he  gives  a  different  theory  (Gen.  iv.  26), 
''Then  began  men  to  call  on  the  name  of  Je- 
hovah." At  any  rate  he  stands  alone  in  using 
the  name  of  Jahve  (Jehovah)  in  pre-Mosaic 
story.  And  to  this  peculiarity  he  owes  the  title 
by  which  his  work  is  known.  "The  jahvist  (or 
jehovist)  document,"  which  is  usually  indicated 
in  briefer  notation  by  the  letter  J. 


II 


The  Jahvist  is  supposed  to  have 

The  Bible     written   In  the   South,   In  Judah,   be- 
of  Northern  .  •      ^1     ^   1        iv 

Israel.       cause  the  names  m  that  locahty  are 

more  prominent  in  his  work.     About 

fifty  years  later  some  northern  prophet  or  group 


90  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

of  prophets  wrote  a  similar  work  for  northern 
Israel  (that  is  if  we  may  judge  again  by  prominent 
localities).  It  was  probably  somewhere  in  the 
days  (750-800  B.C.)  when  Amos  and  Hosea  were 
preaching  in  the  North.  We  know  less  of  this 
work  than  of  its  predecessor.  We  have  less  of 
it  to  judge  by.  The  same  earnest  spiritual  pur- 
pose runs  through  it,  but  it  lacks  the  vivid  per- 
sonal touch  which  is  the  charm  of  J.  It  looks 
as  if  it  were  the  work  of  a  group  of  proph- 
ets rather  than  of  one. 

The  first  piece  we  have  of  it  is  inserted  at 
Gen.  XV.,  so  we  do  not  know  whether  it  went 
back  beyond  Abraham.  Its  story  runs  parallel 
with  the  Judah  Bible,  though  evidently  it  is  using 
different  early  sources,  for  there  are  discrepan- 
cies between  the  narratives,  and  it  uses  different 
names,  e.g.,  Horeb  instead  of  Sinai;  Amorites 
instead  of  Canaanites;  Jacob  instead  of  Israel. 

The  most  marked  difference  is  the  use  of  the 
title  Elohim  (not  Jehovah)  in  all  the  earlier 
narrative.  Therefore  scholars  have  designated 
this  document  as  the  ELOHIST,  which  is  rather 
stupid  of  them,  for  it  only  shows  this  character- 
istic in  its  earlier  sections,  and  it  is  not  the  only 
one  to  do  so,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see.  How- 
ever, ELOHIST  it  must  remain  with  its  abbreviated 
title  as  "E." 


THE  ''BIBLES  BEFORE  THE  BIBLE''    91 

The  general  conclusion  of  scholars  is  that  it 
did  not  long  remain  a  separate  book.  Later 
editors  very  soon  after  combined  it  with  the  Jah- 
vist  Bible  into  one  complete  narrative,  which  is 
conveniently  designated  by  the  combined  letters 
JE. 


Ill 


The  power  of  the  Word  of  God 
The  Book     jg  ^  commonplace  in  religious  history, 

^^«««,„      and  seldom  has  it  been  better  exem- 
ronomy. 

plified  than  In  the  case  of  those  two 
rolls,  those  old  lost  "Bibles  before  the  Bible." 
Probably  about  the  time  of  King  Hezeklah  lived 
a  great  unknown  student  of  the  life  and  law  of 
Moses.  His  bibles  were  apparently  the  Bible  of 
Judah  and  the  Bible  of  Israel  (J  and  E)  or 
probably  one  book  combining  them  both.  For 
afterwards  he  wrote  the  results  of  his  study,  and 
it  is  evident  that  these  form  the  basis  of  his 
work.  But  he  was  greater  than  his  teachers  and 
wrote  greater  things  than  they. 

We  can  judge  of  him  the  more  confidently 
because  his  book,  unlike  the  others,  has  been 
found  intact.  As  we  read  it  we  try  to  reproduce 
him  for  ourselves.  An  enthusiast  for  righteous- 
ness and  an  enthusiast  for  Moses.    As  St.  John 


92  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

spent  half  a  century  meditating  about  Jesus  be- 
fore he  put  his  pen  to  the  story  of  the  Fourth 
Gospel,  so  we  judge  of  this  man  as  meditating 
on  God's  dealings  with  Moses  till  the  spirit  of 
the  old  Legislator  lived  again  in  him.  His  book 
tells  the  events  of  the  last  month  of  the  Desert 
wanderings.  He  gathers  into  it  the  essence  of 
the  teachings  of  Moses.  He  saw  the  deep  spirit- 
ual import  of  that  teaching.  He  brought  to  it 
perhaps  a  still  deeper  power  through  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Spirit  of  God  on  himself.  The  result 
is  the  noblest  section  in  the  Pentateuch. 

We  do  not  know  for  whom  he  wrote  it,  or 
what  he  did  with  it  when  written.  We  do  not 
know  what  influence  it  had  on  the  people  of  his 
day,  though  there  is  reason  later  to  conjecture 
that  on  its  first  appearance  it  had  made  a  deep 
impression.  We  know  nothing  about  its  history. 
The  manuscript  disappeared  and  the  world  might 
never  have  known  anything  about  it,  but  for  the 
fortunate  accident  (humanly  speaking)  that 
brought  it  to  light  perhaps  a  century  later.  The 
story  of  its  recovery  is  told  in  2  Kings  xxii. ; — 


§  2.  It  Is  a  day  in  the  eighteenth  year  of 
King  Josiah,  B.C.  621.  Jerusalem  is  stirring  with 
excitement.     No  one  can  talk  of  anything  but 


THE  "BIBLES  BEFORE  THE  BIBLE ^'   93 

the  news  from  the  Temple.  *^They  have  found 
the  Book  of  the  Law  in  the  house  of  the  LordT* 
The  King  had  sent  down  Shaphan  the  scribe  to 
settle  about  the  workmen's  accounts  for  repairs 
to  the  Temple.  And  after  settling  the  accounts 
the  High  Priest  showed  Shaphan  a  roll  of  a 
book  which  he  had  found  in  some  of  the  Temple 
chambers  during  the  repairs.  So  the  King  sum- 
moned a  great  gathering  of  the  elders  of  Judah 
and  Jerusalem  to  meet  him  in  the  Temple  for 
the  reading  of  the  Roll. 

Then  comes  the  picture  of  the  day  of  the 
Assembly.  The  king  is  standing  by  the  pillar 
in  the  Temple  reading  in  the  ears  of  the  crowd 
the  words  of  the  sacred  Roll.  The  chief  men 
of  the  nation  are  standing  around  him,  amongst 
them,  most  probably  young  Jeremiah  the  prophet, 
the  king's  great  ally  in  his  work  of  reform. 
And  wonder  and  dread  fall  on  them  all  as  they 
hear.  They  are  evidently  deeply  stirred  and 
solemnized.  "And  the  king  stood  by  the  pillar 
and  made  a  covenant  before  the  Lord  to  walk 
after  the  Lord  and  to  keep  his  commandments 
and  his  testimonies  and  his  statutes  with  all  his 
heart  and  all  his  soul,  to  confirm  the  words  of  the 
covenant  written  in  the  book.  And  all  the  people 
stood  to  the  covenant." 

This  Is  the  most  striking  event  In  the  whole 


94  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

History  of  the  Making  of  the  Bible.  Here  Is 
evidently  a  Book  regarded  for  some  reason  as 
of  divine  authority,  a  book  which  Josiah  and  the 
people  clearly  regard  as  an  ancient  Book  of  the 
Law,  which  had  been  known  before  and  which 
had  been  for  a  long  time  lost.  The  whole  story 
forces  that  impression  on  us. 


§  3.  But  what  book  was  it?  The  idea  that 
it  was  our  Pentateuch  in  its  present  complete 
form  Is  quite  out  of  the  question,  for,  apart  from 
the  evidence  which  we  have  of  the  later  com- 
position of  the  Pentateuch,  this  was  evidently  a 
small  book.  The  whole  story,  told  with  the 
vividness  of  a  contemporary,  suggests  that  it 
did  not  take  long  to  read  it.  Shaphan  at  once 
read  it.  Josiah  read  it  for  himself,  and  then 
read  It  for  the  assembly.  Evidently  it  was  not 
the  whole  Pentateuch  but  a  single  roll  with 
definite  precepts  and  warnings  terse  and  forcible. 

We  find  that  the  special  reforms  started  by 
the  Roll,  especially  that  of  the  abolition  of  the 
*'high  places,"  are  just  those  which  the  Book  of 
Deuteronomy  directs.  We  find  that  the  writer 
of  the  book  of  Kings,  who  tells  the  story  directly, 
quotes  twice  over  from  this  "Law,"  i.e,  from  the 
new-found  document,  and  in  each  case  sWjEl  find 


THE  "BIBLES  BEFORE  THE  BIBLE"   95 

his  quotation  In  our  book  of  Deuteronomy. 
There  is  no  space  here  for  exhibiting  the  evidence 
fully.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  all  students  of  the 
subject  are  practically  agreed  that  our  Book  of 
Deuteronomy,  or  part  of  it,  was  the  Roll  which 
Hilkiah  found,  and  which  stirred  the  whole  of 
Jerusalem  that  day  to  its  depths. 

As  has  been  seen,  we  know  nothing  about  Its 
previous  history.  All  sorts  of  conjectures  have 
been  made,  including  even  the  unworthy  sugges- 
tion that  Hilkiah  and  his  friends  might  have 
written  it  themselves  and  palmed  it  off  on  the 
people  as  an  ancient  document !  The  opinion  of 
our  best  scholars  is  that  It  was  a  sacred  book 
which  had  been  lost  or  suppressed  probably  in 
the  wicked  reign  of  Manasseh  or  Amon — that 
it  was  one  of  the  several  editions  of  the  Mosaic 
story  written  by  some  great  prophet  or  prophets 
from  material  which  they  had  access  to,  mainly 
the  Judah  and  Israel  Bibles. 

We  know  it  as  a  book  written  with  passionate 
prophetic  earnestness  to  rouse  the  godless  nation 
to  enthusiasm  for  Jehovah.  Evidently  it  made 
a  tremendous  impression.  The  king  and  his 
chief  helpers  made  it  their  banner  of  reform. 
Jeremiah  the  prophet  went  through  the  land 
teaching  its  precepts.  (Jer.  xi.  i-8.)  His  own 
writings  show  deep  traces  of  its  influence.     He- 


96  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

brew  scholars  tell  us  that  a  comparative  study 
of  the  style  of  the  two  books  shows  that  Jere- 
miah had  ^'steeped  himself"  in  Deuteronomy. 
No  other  book  ever  before  was  such  a  power 
in  Israel.  It  was  the  first  appearance  of  what 
we  may  well  call  a  "People's  Bible."  Other  col- 
lections of  laws  and  history  were  in  the  keeping 
of  prophets  and  priests.  But  never  before  was 
such  a  book  as  this,  a  book  for  the  people,  pub- 
lished to  the  people,  telling  in  noblest  form  the 
thoughts  of  their  great  Lawgiver,  preaching  and 
teaching  and  beseeching  the  nation  to  return  to 
the  Lord  their  God. 


IV 


We   have   still   one   more   "Lost 
"^offhT^     Bible"  to  tell  of. 
Priests.  Little  more  than  a  century  after 

the  finding  of  Deuteronomy,  probably 
in  the  days  of  Ezekiel  and  the  Exile,  first  ap- 
peared the  "Bible  of  the  Priests,"  from  which 
our  Pentateuch  gets  the  main  part  of  its  laws. 
The  Priests  were  the  chief  depositaries  of  laws, 
part  of  them  oral,  handed  on  at  the  various 
sanctuaries  from  generation  to  generation,  much 
of  them  probably  written,  since  the  priests  were 


THE  "BIBLES  BEFORE  THE  BIBLE"    97 

familiar  with  writing.  The  book  is  very  decided 
on  the  theory  that  the  name  Jehovah  was 
not  known  before  Moses.  It  always  calls  God 
ELOHIM,  in  Genesis.  It  records  the  declaration 
in  Exod.  vi.  2,  "By  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not 
known  unto  them."  We  owe  to  it  the  majestic 
Creation  story  In  Gen.  I.  It  seems  to  have 
touched  very  slightly  the  history  of  the  Patri- 
archs. It  gives  special  prominence  to  worship 
and  ceremonial  telling  minutely  of  Circumcision, 
the  Sabbath,  the  Priesthood  and  the  Festivals. 
It  has  a  very  large  collection  of  laws  mainly 
ceremonial.  The  concluding  parts  of  Exodus, 
the  beginning  of  Numbers,  and  practically  the 
whole  of  Leviticus  comes  from  it.  It  Is  a  very 
systematic  work,  very  particular  about  chronol- 
ogy and  genealogies.  And  it  is  a  book  with 
splendid  lofty  ideals.  But  it  loolcs  as  If  It  would 
be  a  dull  book  to  read  by  itself  as  compared 
with  the  stirring  pages  of  Deuteronomy  and  the 
Jahvist. 

From  what  we  have  said  of  that  part  of  Its 
contents  which  has  come  down  to  us,  It  will  be 
evident  why  scholars  have  designated  It  the 
"Book  of  the  Priests,"  indicated  in  brief  nota- 
tion by  the  letter  P. 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE   RECOVERY    OF   THE    LOST    "bIBLES" 


Here  it  will  naturally  be  asked,  If  these  ele- 
mentary *'bibles"  have  vanished  with  the  other 
*'lost  literature,"  how  can  we  know  anything 
about  them? 

The  answer  is  that  it  is  possible  in  a  large 
measure  to  reconstruct  them  by  examination  of 
our  present  Bible  in  which  they  are  incorporated. 
For  ancient  Semitic  historians  did  not  use  their 
material  as  modern  historians  do.  The  modern 
historian  studies  all  his  authorities,  digests  the 
material  In  his  mind,  and  then  writes  his  history 
in  his  own  words  and  style,  so  that  we  could 
seldom  discover  from  his  book  what  materials  he 
used.  But  the  ancient  Semitic  writers  pieced  to- 
gether their  sources,  extracting  from  each  such 
sections  as  suited  their  purpose,  lifting  them  bod- 
ily word  for  word  Into  their  work  and  connect- 
ing them  where  necessary  by  notes  of  their  own. 
So  that  If  the  documents  thus  Incorporated  have 
any  marked  characteristics  of  subject  or  language 

98 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  THE  LOST  "  BIBLES  "  99 

or  style,  it  may  be  possible  to  distinguish  them 
from  one  another,  and  sometimes  to  reconstruct 
the  original  sources  word  for  word. 


§  2.  In  the  next  chapter  I  shall  give  a  New 
Testament  illustration.  Here  I  want  to  show  an 
Old  Testament  writer  at  work,  tie  is  writing 
the  Second  Book  of  Chronicles,  and  has  around 
him,  as  he  repeatedly  tells  us,  the  old  lost  books 
of  Gad  and  Iddo,  and  Shemaiah,  etc.  But,  for- 
tunately for  our  purpose,  he  has  also  a  book 
that  we  know,  the  First  Book  of  Kings.  With  it 
he  is  using  probably  some  of  the  others,  perhaps 
only  one,  which  seems  likely  from  some  of  its 
references  to  be  the  lost  Book  of  Shemaiah. 
Now  watch  how  he  uses  them — 

I  KINGS  XIV.  ^5-28.  2  CHRON.  XII.  2-1 1. 

AND  IT  CAME  TO  PASS  IN  AND   IT  CAME  TO   PASS  IN   THE  FIFTH 

THE   FIFTH  YEAR  OF   KING     YEAR  OF  KING  REHOBOAM  THAT  SHISHAK, 
REHOBOAM,  THAT  SHISHAK      KING  OF  EGYPT  CAME  UP  AGAINST  JERU- 

KING  OF  EGYPT  CAME  SALEM,  because  they  had  trespassed 
UP  AGAINST  JERUSALEM,  against  Jehovah,  luith  tiuelve  hundred 
chariots  and  three  score  thousand 
horsemen,  and  the  people  'were  with- 
out number  that  came  ivith  him  from 
Egypt;  the  Lubiim,  the  Sukiim  and  the 
Ethiopians.  And  he  took  the  fenced 
cities  of  Judah  and  came  to  Jerusalem. 
Noixi  Shemaiah  the  prophet  came  to 


100 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 


X  KINGS  XIV.  25-28. 


2  CHRON.  XII.  2-XI. 


AND  HE  TOOK  AWAY  THE 
TREASURES  OF  THE  HOUSE 
OF  JEHOVAH  AND  THE 
TREASURES  OF  THE  KING'S 
HOUSE  HE  TOOK  ALL  AWAY 
AND  HE  TOOK  AWAY  ALL 
THE  SHIELDS  OF  GOLD 
WHICH  SOLOMON  HAD 
MADE.  AND  KING  REHO- 
BOAM  MADE  IN  THEIR 
STEAD  SHIELDS  OF  BRASS 
AND  COMMITTED  THEM  TO 
THE  HANDS  OF  THE  CAP- 
TAIN OF  THE  GUARD  WHICH 
KEPT  THE  DOOR  OF  THE 
king's  HOUSE.  AND  IT  WAS 
SO  THAT  AS  OFT  AS  THE 
KING  WENT  INTO  THE 
HOUSE  OF  THE  LORD  THE 
GUARD  BARE  THEM  AND 
BROUGHT  THEM  BACK  INTO 
THE  GUARD  CHAMBER. 


Rehoboam  and  to  the  princes  of  Judah 
.  .  .  and  said  unto  them.  Thus  saith 
Jehovah,  Ye  have  forsaken  me  there- 
fore .  .  .  Then  the  princes  of  Israel 
and  the  King  humbled  themselves 
.  .  .  And  the  ivord  of  the  Lord  came 
to  Shemaiah  saying.  They  have  hum- 
bled themselves,  I  ivill  not  destroy 
them  but  ivill  grant  them  some  de- 
liverance and  my  lurath  shall  not  be 
poured  out  on  Jerusalem  by  the  hand 
of  Shishak.  Nevertheless  they  shall 
be  his  servants  that  they  may  knoiv 
my  service  and  the  service  of  the 
kingdoms  of  the  countries.  SO  SHIshak 
KING  OF  EGYPT  CAME  UP  AGAINST  JERU- 
SALEM AND  TOOK  AWAY  THE  TREASURE 
OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  JEHOVAH  AND  THE 
TREASURES  OF  THE  KING'S  HOUSE,  HE 
TOOK  ALL  away;  HE  TOOK  AWAY  ALSO 
THE  SHIELDS  OF  GOLD  WHICH  SOLOMON 
HAD  MADE.  AND  KING  REHOBOAM  MADE 
IN  THEIR  STEAD  SHIELDS  OF  BRASS,  AND 
COMMITTED  THEM  TO  THE  HANDS  OF  THE 
CAPTAIN  OF  THE  GUARD  THAT  KEPT  THE 
DOOR  OF  THE  KING'S  HOUSE.  AND  IT  WAS 
SO  THAT  AS  OFT  AS  THE  KING  WENT  INTO 
THE  HOUSE  OF  JEHOVAH  THE  GUARD 
CAME  AND  BARE  THEM  AND  BROUGHT 
THEM  BACK  INTO  THE  GUARD  CHAMBER. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  THE  LOST  "  BIBLES  "  101 

§  3.  Here  we  have  a  clear  illustration  of  the 
way  in  which  this  Bible  historian  worked.  And 
because  we  have  one  of  his  documents  still  exist- 
ing, it  is  easy  to  distinguish  between  the  sources 
used.  But  in  other  parts  of  the  Bible  it  is  not 
so  easy,  because  all  the  incorporated  documents 
are  lost.  Nevertheless  it  is  quite  possible,  through 
differences  of  style,  through  characteristic  words 
and  phrases,  and  in  other  ways,  not  only  to  dis- 
tinguish between  several  sources  used,  but  often 
even  to  reconstruct  them. 

Take  the  Pentateuch.  Begin  at  the  beginning. 
In  the  first  section,  chap.  i.  to  ii.  4,  we  have  a 
version  of  the  story  of  creation  in  dignified  solemn 
formal  style  with  characteristic  words  and  phrases 
which  also  occur  in  later  parts  of  the  book. 
Amongst  them  we  notice  especially  the  title  of 
the  Deity,  elohim  (God). 

Now  the  very  next  section,  beginning  Gen.  ii. 
4,  is  another  Creation  story,  apparently  from  a 
different  source.  The  order  of  Creation  is  dif- 
ferent, the  style  is  very  different,  and  we  are 
especially  struck  by  the  sudden  change  of  the 
Divine  name  to  JEHOVAH  elohim  (Lord  God). 

This  at  least  suggests  to  us  that  the  Book  of 
Genesis  was  written,  like  the  Books  of  Chronicles, 
by  combining  earlier  sources.  Then,  as  we  go 
on,  we  find  counterparts  of  these  two  sections 


102 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 


running  on  still  together,  keeping  still  their 
marked  characteristics.  We  also  find  repeatedly 
as  in  the  Creation  stories,  the  same  fact  doubly 
recorded  and  the  duplicates  apparently  belong 
to  these  separate  counterparts.  Here  Is  a  good 
example.     Notice  the  Divine  name  In  each — 


Gen.  VI.  11-13. 

And  the  earth  was  corrupt 
before  GOD  and  the  earth 
was  filled  with  violence.  And 
GOD  saw  the  earth  and  behold 
is  was  corrupt  for  all  flesh  had 
corrupted  its  way  upon  the 
earth.  And  GOD  said  unto 
Noah,  The  end  of  all  flesh  is 
come  before  me;  for  the 
earth  is  filled  with  violence 
through  them  and  behold  I 
will  destroy  them  with  the 
earth. 


Gen.  VI.  5-7. 

And  JEHOVAH  saw  that 
the  wickedness  of  man  was 
great  in  the  earth  and  that 
every  imagination  of  the 
thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only 
evil  continually.  And  it  re- 
pented JEHOVAH  that  he  had 
made  man  and  it  pained 
him  at  his  heart.  And 
JEHOVAH  said,  I  will  blot 
out  man  whom  I  have  created. 


Sometimes,  too,  there  are  discrepancies  be- 
tween these  duplicate  accounts,  e.g.  In  the  Crea- 
tion story  where  the  order  of  creation  Is  differ- 
ent— or  in  the  Deluge  story,  where  In  one  sec- 
tion (vi.  18-22)  one  pair  of  each  kind  of  animal 
Is  preserved,  and  In  another  (vii.  1-5)  seven  pair 
clean  and  one  of  unclean.  Again  In  one  dupli- 
cate the  flood  covers  the  earth  for  twelve  months 
and  ten  days,  and  In  the  other  for  only  sixty- 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  THE  LOST  "  BIBLES  »  103 

one  Hays.  These  duplicate  sections  in  their  way 
of  putting  things,  and  in  their  characteristic  words 
and  phrases,  correspond  to  the  two  Creation  sec- 
tions In  Gen.  i.  and  Gen.  11.  The  fact  that  dis- 
crepancies sometimes  exist  indicates  that  the  re- 
spective original  authors  of  these  separate  ac- 
counts did  not  use  quite  the  same  sources  of 
information.  At  any  rate  it  is  quite  evident  that 
we  have  In  Genesis,  at  least  two  earlier  accounts 
combined  In  the  same  way  as  these  In  the  Book  of 
Chronicles. 


§  4.  Now  we  are  to  try  to  reproduce  the 
lost  sources.  In  an  appendix  to  this  chapter  will 
be  found  a  list  of  the  sections  allotted  by  the 
decision  of  scholars  to  one  of  the  separate 
sources,  that  one  which  contains  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis.  Now  let  us  take  the  first  section, 
Gen.  I,  and  all  its  corresponding  sections  through 
Genesis  as  given  In  this  appendix  and  with  a 
camel-hair  brush  tint  them  all  over  in  a  pale  red. 
Then  read  them  consecutively  for  several  pages. 
We  shall  find  them  forming  a  fairly  intelligible 
story,  though  very  slight  and  scrappy  In  the 
Genesis  portion.  We  shall  find  characteristic 
words  and  phrases  running  through  them,  such  as : 
create^  after  their  kind,  the  selfsame  day,  these 


104        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

are  the  generations  of,  living  creatures,  beasts 
of  the  earth,  creeping  thing,  all  flesh,  sojourner, 
throughout  their  generations,  etc.  There  is  not 
very  much  from  this  source  in  Genesis  but  if 
we  continue  our  red  sections  right  through  the 
Pentateuch  we  shall  find  In  them  nearly  all  the 
regulations  about  ritual  and  ceremonies,  about 
Circumcision  and  the  Sabbath  and  the  Festivals, 
also  the  great  bulk  of  the  priestly  laws.  And  I 
trust  it  will  be  with  some  interest  we  shall  feel 
the  conviction  that  all  the  old  "lost  literature" 
is  not  altogether  lost,  that  in  these  red-tinted 
pages,  right  through  the  Pentateuch,  we  have 
got  back  at  least  a  large  part  of  the  Bible  of 
the  Priests. 

Then  we  turn  back  to  the  Bible  to  read  the 
parts  left  uncoloured.  We  cannot  doubt  that 
we  are  reading  quite  another  document,  utterly 
differing  from  the  first  In  language  and  style,  much 
more  interestingly  written,  more  artistic,  more  po- 
etical, full  of  vivid  dramatic  touches  that  make  the 
history  live  before  us.  We  have  got  back  the  old 
Jahvlst  Bible  of  Southern  Judah.  Or,  rather,  we 
have  got  back  the  combination  of  it  with  the  Elo- 
hlst  Bible  of  the  North. 

This  little  sketch  Is  merely  intended  to  suggest 
the  methods  of  critical  work  on  the  Bible. 


THE  RECOVERY  OF  THE  LOST  "  BIBLES  "  105 

NOTE. 

In  Dr.  Driver's  Genesis  these  are  the  parts  allotted  to  the 
"Book  of  the  Priests,"  chap,  i -ii.  4  Creation  of  heaven  and  earth 
and  God's  subsequent  rest  upon  the  Sabbath)  ;  v.  1-28,  30-32 
(the    line    of    Adam's    descendants    through    Seth    to    Noah) ; 
vi.   9-22,   vii.    6,    II,    i3-i6a,    ij^    18-21,   23,    viii.    i-z^,   3^-5, 
13a,   14-19,   ix.   1-17,  28-29    (the   story  of  the  flood)  ;   x.   1-7, 
io,  22-23,  3i~32   (list  of  nations  descended  from  Japhet,  Ham, 
and  Shem)  ;  xi.  10-26   (line  of  Shera's  descendants  to  Terah)  ; 
xi.   27,   31-32    (Abraham's  family)  ;   xil.  4^-5,  xiii.   6,   11^-12* 
(his  migration   into   Canaan,   and   separation  from  Lot)  ;   xvi. 
I^   3»   I5~i6    (birth  of  Ishmael)  ;  xvii    (institution  of  circum- 
cision) ;    xix.    29    (destruction    of    the    cities    of    the    Vikkdr)  ; 
xxi.  lb,  2^-5    (birth  of  Isaac)  ;  xxiii.    (purchase  of  the  family 
burial-place   In    Machphelah)  ;   xxv.   7-11*    (death   and   burial 
of  Abraham)  ;   xxv.   12-17    (list  of  12  tribes   descended   from 
Ishmael)  ;  xxv.   19-20,  26b    (Isaac's  marriage  with  Rebekah)  ; 
xxvii.    46 — ^xxviii.    9     (Jacob's    journey)  ;    xxix.    24,    28^-29)  ; 
xxxi.    i8b    xxxiii.    x8a    (Jacob's    marriage,    etc.)  ;    xxxiv.  x-2a, 
4,  6,   8-10,   13-18,  20-24,  27-29    (refusal  of  his  sons  to  sanc- 
tion intermarriage)  ;  xxxv.  9-13,  15    (change  of  name) ;  xxxv. 
22^-29    (death  of  Isaac)  ;   xxxvi.    (Esau   and  Edom) ;   xxxvii. 
1-2,  xli.  46   (Joseph's  elevation)  ;  xlvi.  6-27,  xlvii.  5-6*,  7-11, 
27b,  28   (migration  of  Jacob's  family)  ;  xlviii,  3-6,  7   (Joseph's 
adoption    of    Ephraim    and    Manasseh) ;    xlix,    la,    28^-33,    I. 
12-13  (Jacob's  burial). 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  CANON  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 

I 

We  come  now  to  the  final  stage  in  the 
In  the  Days   growth  of  the  Old  Testament, 
the  Exile  ^   have   already  pointed  out  that 

two  stages  must  be  clearly  recognized 
in  the  Making  of  the  Bible. 

1st.  The  gradual  agelong  formation  of  a  re- 
ligious literature. 

2nd.  The  selection  or  acceptance  or  recogni- 
tion of  certain  parts  of  this  literature  as  Divine 
and  authoritative,  an  inspired  Canon  or  Rule  of 
life  and  doctrine. 

Up  to  tliis  we  have  been  briefly  sketching  the 
first  stage.  We  now  come  to  the  second.  And 
here  It  will  be  convenient  to  run  over  again  lightly 
the  line  of  thought  on  which  we  are  travelling. 

(i)  Behind  the  Bible  was  a  religious  com- 
munity called  by  God  for  His  great  purposes  to 
humanity,  and  in  which,  as  in  a  cherishing  home 
or  nest,  the  Bible  was  to  grow. 

106 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT      107 

(2)  In  this  community,  in  the  Providence  of 
God,  arose  a  primitive  literature  mainly  with  a 
religious  purpose,  songs  and  legends  and  laws  and 
histories,  etc. 

(3)  Later  came  written  collections  and  se- 
lections of  this  old  literature,  to  what  extent  we 
know  not — such  as  the  Book  of  Jasher  and  the 
Book  of  the  Wars  of  Jehovah,  etc. 

(4)  Still  later,  as  the  need  arose,  came  fuller 
books,  the  Four  *'Bibles  before  the  Bible" — like 
the  Four  Gospels  in  the  New  Testament,  com- 
mitting to  writing,  just  as  the  Gospels  did,  a 
selection  of  the  oral  and  fragmentary  written 
records  of  the  past. 

(5)  Beside  these  was  much  other  literature, 
in  which  most  important  of  all  were  the  inspired 
utterances  of  the  Prophets. 

(6)  There  was  no  Bible  yet,  in  our  sol- 
emn sense  of  the  word,  only  religious  literature 
of  varying  spiritual  value  in  which  some  parts 
stood  out  more  prominently  in  the  estimation  of 
the  faithful. 

(7)  The  reason  of  this  prominence  was  the 
silent  conviction  that  God  was  more  behind  these 
parts,  that  they  revealed  the  nature  and  will  of 
God  in  an  especial  manner  and  degree. 

(8)  This  conviction  came  not  through  any 
external  authority,   through  any  miraculous   at- 


108         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

testation  or  any  formal  decision,  but  through  the 
persistent  appeal  of  the  books  or  utterances  them- 
selves to  the  Spirit-guided  conscience  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  they  grew.  Slowly,  gradually, 
unconsciously  that  community  was  making  a  selec- 
tion. By  the  quiet  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on 
their  minds  they  were  preparing  for  the  Making 
of  the  Bible. 

§  2.  In  the  day  then,  when  the  nation  fell  and 
the  last  of  the  kings  of  Judah  went  away  into 
Captivity,  there  was  still  no  "Bible."  The  Jewish 
Bible,  as  we  have  it,  belongs  to  a  later  day. 

Which  starts  some  questionings.  How  did  the 
Jewish  nation  live  its  life  without  a  Bible?  I 
think  the  reply  is  that  they  had  their  teaching 
church,  their  religious  services,  especially  their 
great  Festivals,  reminding  them  of  God's  dealings 
in  the  past.  They  had  the  teaching  of  their  priests 
and,  far  above  all,  they  had  the  living  voices  of 
the  Prophets,  the  holy  men  of  old  who  spake  asi 
they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  declaring  to 
them  the  Word  of  God  and  the  presence  of  God. 
They  did  not  need  a  Book  religion.  The  records 
of  the  past  existed  in  various  fragmentary  forms, 
but  the  people  certainly  had  no  Bible.  They  did 
not  need  it  yet.  They  could  not  read  it  even  if 
they  had  it. 


^THE  CANON  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT    109 

Remember  that  the  English  people  had  no 
Bible  for  one  thousand  years  until  Tyndale's  day. 
They  were  taught  the  Creed  and  the  Gospel  story 
and  learned  the  words  of  the  Psalms.  They  had 
their  church  services  and  the  great  ceremony  of 
the  Holy  Communion,  keeping  them  always  in 
touch  with  their  Lord.  The  clergy  had  the  sacred 
books  of  Scripture  from  which  to  teach  them.  The 
teaching  church  kept  religion  alive  without  a  Peo- 
ple's Bible. 

Something  like  that  was  the  religious  life  of 
early  Israel.  The  need  of  a  Bible  was  not  felt. 
It  was  not  until  the  prophet  voices  ceased  and  the 
national  life  was  passing  away  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  put  down  in  complete  form  the  great 
Deeds  and  Words  of  the  past. 

§  3.  Then  came  the  final  stage  in  the  Making 
of  the  Old  Testament.  God  took  that  poor  faulty 
Church  and  nation  into  Captivity,  "apart  from  the 
multitude,"  and  prepared  them  to  give  to  the 
world  their  Bible.  Very  wonderful  is  the  work- 
ing of  His  Divine  Providence.  That  terrible  trou- 
ble seems  to  have  done  more  for  Israel  than  all 
the  years  of  prosperity.  Without  it  they  had 
hardly  been  fitted  for  the  Making  of  the  Bible. 
Their  misery  brought  them  closer  to  God.  "The 
nation  as  it  were  went  into  retreat  and  performed 


110         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

penance  for  its  long  errors  and  sins."  Henceforth 
idolatry  had  no  power  over  them.  Henceforth 
the  Divine  Presence  grew  more  and  more  real. 
Henceforth  their  sacred  records  grew  exceedingly 
precious  as  they  felt  the  prophetic  voices  passing 
away.  There  seemed  little  of  national  glory  to 
hope  for  in  the  future,  and  so  they  learned  to 
brood  in  that  sorrowful  exile  over  their  wondrous 
past,  to  treasure  and  love  as  never  before  the 
words  and  deeds  of  their  great  leaders  of  old. 
They  were  apart  with  God  and  with  their  Sacred 
Records.  Every  word  of  their  prophets,  every 
page  of  their  history  was  prized.  Their  deepen- 
ing spiritual  perception  made  them  realize  that 
"unto  them  were  committed  the  Oracles  of  God" 
(Rom.  iii.  2) .  Now  they  were  ready  for  the  final 
stage,  the  formation  of  the  Canon  of  Scripture. 

§  4.  The  whole  environment  of  our  history 
Is  now  changed.  We  are  no  longer  In  Palestine, 
the  land  of  Jehovah's  worship,  the  land  of  Abra- 
ham and  Moses  and  David  and  the  Prophets 
where  the  Bible  had  been  growing  for  a  thousand 
years. 

The  scene  Is  transferred  to  gorgeous  Babylon, 
with  Its  pride  and  pomp  and  barbaric  splendour, 
with  Its  majestic  temples  and  countless  idols  and 
pagan  wickedness,  where  the  name  of  the  spiritual 


THE7CAN0N  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT      111 

Jehovah  was  not  known.  There  dwelt  the  exiles 
in'the  Jewish  quarter  by  the  river. 

*'By  the  waters  of  Babylon  they  sat  down  and  wept: 
Yea,  they  wept  when  they  remembered  Zion." 

But  they  did  something  more  than  weep  about 
the  past.  A  compelling  Impulse  was  upon  them 
from  above  as  they  thought  of  the  holy  teaching 
which  they  had  too  lightly  prized.  The  prophets 
were  gone,  but  they  would  record  the  sacred  words 
of  the  prophets.  Their  history  seemed  closed, 
but  they  would  write  It  for  their  descendants. 
Their  temple  was  In  ruins,  but  the  priests  who 
preserved  the  laws  and  the  ritual  of  Its  worship 
would  formulate  all  connected  with  the  service 
of  Jehovah.  The  loving-kindness  of  the  Lord 
must  never  be  forgotten;  the  hope  of  the  mys- 
terious Messiah  must  still  be  kept  alive. 

So  they  began  the  writing  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. And  scarce  was  their  task  finished  when 
the  Messiah  came,  In  whom  lay  Its  chief  interpre- 
tation and  fulfilment.  And — It  Is  the  bitter  Irony 
of  history — when  He  came  they  knew  Him  not — ■■ 
they  crucified  Him. 

§  5.  This  collection  of  Sacred  Books  was  not 
made  all  at  once,  but  In  three  separate  periods. 


112         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

The  First  Jewish  Bible  was  the  "Torah,"  the 
**Law,"  our  Pentateuch.  Later  on,  the  chief  of 
the  Prophetic  Utterances  and  Prophetic  Histories 
were  added.  So  the  Second  Jewish  Bible  was 
*'The  Law  and  the  Prophets."  Later  on  again 
It  was  still  further  enlarged,  and  the  Complete 
Jewish  Bible  was  *'The  Law  and  the  Prophets 
and  the  Writings." 

In  the  New  Testament  titles  of  the  Jewish 
Bible  we  see  the  traces  of  this  gradual  formation, 
e.g.,  THE  Law  (Matt.  v.  i8;  xii.  5  etc.),  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets,  or  Moses  and  the 
Prophets  (Matt.  vii.  12 ;  Luke  xvi.  29,  31 ),  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets  and  the  Psalms 
(Luke  xxiv.  44). 

It  is  also  noticeable  In  the  Hebrew  Bible  where 
the  Books  are  arranged  not  as  with  us,  but  in  the 
order  of  their  threefold  formation — 

I.  The  Law  (Torah).  The  five  books  of 
Moses. 

II.  The  Prophets  (Neblim). 

{a)   The     Former     Prophets,     Joshua, 

Judges,  Samuel,  Kings. 
(^)  The  Latter  Prophets,   Isaiah,  Jere- 
miah, Ezekiel  and  "the  Book  of  the 
Twelve"  (Minor  Prophets). 
in.  The  Holy  Writings  (Kethubim). 


THE'CANON  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT      113 

(a)  The   Poetical   Books,   Psalms,    Pro- 
verbs, Job. 

(b)  The    Five    Rolls,    Canticles,    Ruth, 
Lamentations,  Ecclesiastes,  Esther. 

(c)  The  Remaining  Books,  Daniel,  Ezra, 
Nehemiah,  Chronicles.^ 


II 

The  first  Jewish  Bible,  then,  was 

'^^^  ^^vf*     quite  a  small  one,  only  the  Pentateuch. 

Bible.       Vv^ith  the  Jews  this  has  always  been 

par  excellence  *'The  Bible."    No  other 

books  have  ever  won  quite  the  same  position  in 

Judaism.     The  Samaritans  have  never  accepted 

any  other  books  at  all. 

We  know  but  little  about  the  process  of  its 
formation.  We  have  no  history  of  that  wonder- 
ful time  of  literary  activity  in  the  days  of  the 
Exile.  So  we  are  left  to  form  our  conclusions 
from  such  hints  as  we  have  and  from  study  of  the 
structure  of  the  books  as  has  been  touched  on  in 
the  previous  chapters. 

^Thus  the  Books  of  Chronicles  come  last  of  all.  It  !s 
interesting  to  see  how  this  explains  our  Lord's  words  (Matt 
xxiii.  35)  the  blood  of  all  the  prophets  shall  be  required  "from 
the  blood  of  Abel  (in  the  first  book  of  Scripture)  to  the  blood 
of  Zacharias  the  son  of  Barachias"  (in  Chronicles  the  last  book) 
as  though  we  should  say  "from  Genesis  to  Revelation." 


114         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING] 

Notice  first  that  it  was  nothing  new  to  them, 
this  idea  of  inspired  Scriptures.  I  have  empha- 
sized the  fact  that  in  their  earlier  history  there 
was  as  yet  no  "Bible"  in  our  solemn  sense  of  the 
word.  That  is  true.  And  yet,  when  thus  ex- 
pressed, it  is  rather  an  overstatement.  For,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  the  idea  of  inspired  Scriptures 
— of  a  Divine  authoritative  Word  of  God — had 
in  some  degree  always  been  with  them.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  Ten  Commandments  stood 
apart  from  the  beginning  as  the  Divine  foundation 
of  the  moral  law.  We  are  told  (i  Kings  viii.  9) 
that  in  Solomon's  time  the  Tables  of  stone  were 
still  preserved  in  the  Holy  of  Holies.  That  very 
ancient  law  code,  the  Book  of  the  Covenant 
(Exod.  XX.  20  to  xxiii.  23)  was  venerated  from 
early  times  as  the  Word  of  the  Lord,^  and  the 
so-called  Law  of  Holiness  (Lev.  xvii  to  xxvi.)  in 
its  shorter  earlier  form  probably  stood  out  promi- 
nently in  the  records  of  the  priests.  We  know 
the  words  of  the  prophets  were  regarded  as  the 
Word  of  Jehovah.  And  we  believe  that  the  frag- 
mentary histories  written  by  early  prophets  were 
prized  because  it  was  felt  that  there  was  something 
of  God  in  them.     But  the  nearest  approach  to 

^This  IS  related  by  either  the  Jahvist  or  Elohist  Bible, 
probably  the  former.  Therefore,  in  that  writer's  day,  ninth 
century  B.C.,  it  was  a  story  of  still  earlier  days — ^how  much 
earlier  we  do  not  know.     See  Sunday,  Inspiration,  p.  234. 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT      115 

what  we  may  call  written  Canonical  Scriptures  is 
the  great  book  of  Deuteronomy.  From  the  day 
that  it  was  unearthed  in  the  reign  of  Josiah  it  ap- 
pealed to  the  deepest  spiritual  instincts  of  the  na- 
tion. For  some  reason  it  stood  apart  as  a  Di- 
vine authoritative  Book,  in  a  way  that  no  book 
had  ever  done  before.  We  may  well  regard  it  as 
the  beginning  of  the  Canon  of  Scripture.  So  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  thought  of  an  inspired  "Bible" 
was  nothing  new  to  the  Exiles.  But  now  it  was 
looming  larger  in  their  vision.  The  idea  which 
had  taken  root  in  the  far  past  was  growing. 


§  2.  They  had  piles  of  precious  manuscripts 
brought  with  them  into  their  exile.  And  prominent 
amongst  their  books  were  the  Four  Sacred  His- 
tories: 

The  Jahvist  book  of  Judah. 

The  Elohist  book  of  Israel. 

The  Book  of  the  Law,  which  we  call  Deu- 
teronomy. 

The  Book  of  the  Priests,  written  or  perhaps 
completed  in  the  early  exile  days. 

With  these  Four  Books  they  began.  They 
made  from  them  one  great  Book  which  we  call 
the  Pentateuch.     Why?     And  how? 

Be  It  remembered  that  Deuteronomy  was  al- 


116         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

ready  regarded  as  a  sort  of  national  Bible.  But 
it  was  clearly  a  very  imperfect  Bible  as  it  stood. 
It  looked  back  to  laws  which  it  did  not  quote,  and 
to  history  which  it  did  not  relate.  Clearly  it  was 
necessary  to  add  these.  So,  as  the  other  three 
books  were  the  standard  collection  of  these  laws 
and  history,  they  must  in  some  way  be  appended. 
But  since  they  were  largely  parallel  collections, 
each  of  them  containing  much  of  the  same  ma- 
terial, it  would  naturally  occur  to  the  writers  to 
make  selections  and  weave  them  together  to  avoid 
repetition. 


§  3.  These  Four  Books  suggest  irresistibly 
to  us  the  thought  of  the  Four  Gospels  in  the  New 
Testament.  Deuteronomy  is  very  like  the  Gospel 
of  St.  John,  a  meditative  interpretative  work,  the 
other  three  are  parallel  histories,  like  the  three 
Synoptic  Gospels.  And  we  can  the  better  under- 
stand and  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  the  exiles 
in  their  literary  task,  with  their  Four  Books,  if  we 
look  at  a  literary  work  done  for  the  Four  Gospels 
six  hundred  years  later. 

Early  in  the  second  century  A.D.,  a  very 
famous  book  was  written  by  a  Syrian  scholar 
named  Tatian,  for  the  convenience  of  reading  in 
church.     It  was  known  as  the  Diatessaron  or 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT     117 

Book  of  the  Four.  It  wove  together  cleverly  the 
very  words  of  the  four  Gospels  so  as  to  avoid 
Vepetltion  and  give  a  clear  consecutive  life  of  our 
Lord.    Here  is  a  section  of  it — 


THEN   COMETH  JESUS   FROM   GALILEE   TO  THE      Matt.  iii.  IJ. 
JORDAN    UNTO    JOHN    TO    BE    BAPTIZED    OF    HIM. 

AND    JESUS    WAS    ABOUT    THIRTY    YEARS    OF    AGE      Lukc  iii.  23,  24*. 
AND   WAS   SUPPOSED   TO   BE  THE   SON   OF  JOSEPH. 
NOW  JOHN   SAW  JESUS  COMING   UNTO   HIM    AND      John  i.  29-3 X. 
SAITH,  THIS  IS  THE  LAMB  OF  GOD  WHICH  TAKETH 
AWAY  THE   SIN   OF  THE  WORLD.      THIS   IS   HE  OF 
WHOM    I    SAID,    AFTER    ME    SHALL    COME    A    MAN 
WTIICH    IS    PREFERRED    BEFORE    ME    FOR    HE    WAS 
BEFORE    ME,   AND    I    KNEW   HIM    NOT,   BUT   THAT 
HE    MAY  BE   MADE    MANIFEST  TO   ISRAEL   THERE- 
FORE   CAME    I    BAPTIZING    WITH    WATER.       NOW      Matt.   iii.  I4,   »$. 
JOHN    WAS    FORBIDDING    HIM,     SAYING,     I     HAVE 
NEED    TO    BE    BAPTIZED    OF    THEE    AND    COMEST 
THOU   TO    ME?       JESUS    ANSWERED    HIM,   SUFFER 
IT   NOW,  THUS  IT  BECOMETH  US  TO   FULHL  ALL 
RIGHTEOUSNESS.      THEN   HE  SUFFERED  HIM.     AND 
WHEN    ALL    THE    PEOPLE    WERE    BAPTIZED    JESUS      Lukc  iii.  21*. 
ALSO  WAS  BAPTIZED,  AND  HE  WENT  UP  STRAIGHT-      Matt.  iii.  6. 
WAY  OUT  OF  THE  WATER  AND  THE  HEAVEN  WAS 
OPENED    UNTO    HIM.  AND    THE    HOLY    SPIRIT      Lukc  iii.  23^. 

DESCENDED  UPON  HIM  IN  THE  FORM  OF  A  DOVE's 
BODY,    AND    LO    A    VOICE    FROM    HEAVEN,    THIS    IS 
MY  BELOVED  SON  IN  WHOM  I  AM  WELL  PLEASED.      Matt.  iii.  17. 
AND  JOHN  BARE  WITNESS  SAYING,  FURTHERMORE      John  i.  32. 
I  SAW  THE  SPIRIT  DESCENDING  AS  A  DOVE  OUT  OF 
HEAVEN,  AND  IT  ABODE  ON  HIM. 

This  was  evidently  a  very  convenient  book, 
especially  when  the  Gospels  were  four  cumbrous 
rolls  which  had  to  be  hunted  over  for  parallel 


118         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

passages.  For  a  time  it  was  largely  used,  and  in 
some  places  almost  displaced  the  separate  Gos- 
pels. We  shall  hear  of  it  later.  I  mention  it  here 
to  help  us  to  understand  how  and  why  the  Pen- 
tateuch came  into  being.  It  is  an  interesting 
thought  that  if  the  Four  Gospels  had  been  lost, 
like  those  old  Jewish  books — and  only  the  Diates- 
saron  remained,  we  should  have  exactly  the  Old 
Testament  problem  over  again,  only  in  a  more  dif- 
ficult form. 


§  4.  We  believe  that  God,  who  was  guiding 
and  inspiring  His  Church  for  the  thousand  years 
before  in  the  growth  of  the  Bible  in  Palestine, 
was  guiding  and  Inspiring  it  still  in  the  final  work 
in  Babylon;  that  there  was  granted  to  these  men 
an  "inspiration  of  selection."  Think  of  them 
starting  off  with  that  majestic  section  from  the 
Book  of  the  Priests,  "In  the  beginning  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth."  Think  of 
them  solemnly  recording  ancient  narratives  which 
must  have  seemed  childish  to  their  more  ad- 
vanced thought — those  simple  little  stories  of  the 
infancy  of  the  human  spirit,  telling  how  God 
walked  about  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  how  He 
talked  like  a  man  with  Adam  and  Cain  and  Noah; 
how  He  Himself  closed  the  door  of  the  ark;  how 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT    119 

He  repented  Himself  and  grieved  that  He  had 
made  man,  etc.  And  yet  how  much  poorer  the 
Bible  would  be  without  these  touching  notes  of 
the  child  races  of  old  and  their  thoughts  about 
God  In  His  slow  progressive  revelation  of  Him- 
self to  man. 

Year  after  year  their  solemn  work  went  on, 
perhaps  In  the  Intervals  from  Babylonian  tasks; 
around  them  the  noises  of  the  great  proud  city,  In 
their  hearts  the  peace  of  prayer  and  consecration 
to  God.  How  little  could  the  mighty  ones  of 
Babylon  think — the  ''satraps  and  governors  and 
judges  and  treasurers  and  all  the  rulers  of  prov- 
inces"— that  there  In  that  despised  Jewish  quar- 
ter was  being  done  what  should  be  famous  when 
great  Babylon  was  a  forgotten  name. 

If  I  were  going  Into  details  I  might  show  that 
they  made  the  Priests'  Book  the  basis  and  frame- 
work of  their  new  volume  and  the  probability  that 
the  Jahvlst  and  Elohlst  Bibles  already  brought 
together  had  been  connected  In  some  form  with 
Deuteronomy  before  the  Exile.  But  In  this  simple 
story  such  discussions  seem  unnecessary.  Suffice 
It  to  say  that  to  their  central  sacred  book  of  Deu- 
teronomy they  appended  their  Bible  compiled 
from  the  other  three  sources,  and  the  result  was 
this  book  of  the  Pentateuch  which  is  in  our  hands 
to-day. 


120         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

§  5.     Now  see  the  first  appearance  in  history 
of  this  first  Jewish  Bible. 

There  is  little  doubt  ^  that  this  completed 
Pentateuch  was  the  Book  referred  to  when  Ezra 
went  up  from  Babylon  to  Jerusalem.  *'He  was  a 
ready  scribe  in  the  Law  of  Moses,  the  scribe  of 
the  commandments  of  the  Lord  and  of  His  stat- 
utes to  Israel  and  the  Law  of  His  God  was  in  his 
hand"  (Ezra  vii.).  And  again  in  that  thrilling 
scene  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  (Neh.  viii.) 
when  "all  the  people  gathered  themselves  together 
as  one  man  to  the  Broad  Place  before  the  Water- 
gate, and  they  spake  to  Ezra  the  Scribe  to  bring 
the  Book  of  the  Law  of  Moses  which  God  had 
commanded  Israel."  And  Ezra  mounting  the 
"pulpit  of  wood,"  opened  the  Book  in  the  sight 
of  all  the  people,  and  when  he  opened  it  "all  the 
people  stood  up  and  Ezra  blessed  the  Lord  the 
Great  God,  and  all  the  people  answered  Amen, 
Amen,  with  the  lifting  up  of  their  hands,  and  they 
bowed  their  heads  and  worshipped  the  Lord.  And 
there  was  great  gladness,  and  they  kept  the  feast 
seven  days,  and  day  by  day  from  the  first  day  unto 
the  last  he  read  in  the  Book  of  the  Law  of  God." 

Here  then  (457  B.C.)  we  have  the  first  public 

1  Though  some  critics  think  that  Ezra's  book  was  the  Priests* 
Bible,  and  that  the  complete  incorporation  was  a  little  later. 
But  the  general  belief  is  as  stated  above. 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT    121 

appearance  in  history  of  our  present  completed 
Pentateuch. 


§  6.  The  reader  is,  I  hope,  now  in  a  position 
to  see  that  this  Pentateuch  of  the  Exile  days  is  but 
a  "latest  edition,"  a  completest  and  fullest  edition, 
putting  together  In  literary  form  earlier  existing 
sacred  histories.  It  Is  necessary  to  emphasize  this. 
For  In  all  the  disquiet  caused  by  "higher  criti- 
cism" of  the  Old  Testament,  nothing  has  so  dis- 
turbed simple  Christian  people  as  the  statement 
that  the  Pentateuch  was  not  written  until  the  days 
of  the  Exile. 

It  is  quite  true.  In  a  certain  sense.  But  why 
should  It  be  so  disturbing?  Take  an  illustration 
from  secular  history.  Green's  "History  of  the 
English  People"  tells  the  story  of  Alfred  and  of 
William  the  Conqueror  nearly  looo  years  after 
date.  Do  we  therefore  doubt  the  substantial 
truth  of  these  stories  ?  Of  course  we  assume  that 
Professor  Green  used  all  the  earlier  English  his- 
tories, that  he  and  his  predecessors  used  also  all 
accessible  older  material,  ballads  and  folklore  and 
traditions  and  laws  and  letters  and  ancient  char- 
ters which  bore  upon  their  work. 

The  Pentateuch  comes  to  us  In  a  somewhat 
similar  way.    The  writers  In  that  divinely  guided 


122        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

community  used  earlier  authorities,  and  these 
again  used  still  earlier  material  back  as  far  as 
they  could  go.  Behind  our  Pentateuch,  as  we  have 
seen,  lies  an  earlier  one  (JE)  belonging  to  about 
the  seventh  century  B.C.  This  has  been  compiled 
from  two  still  earlier  independent  "Pentateuchs" 
(if  I  may  use  the  word),  J  and  E,  one  of  them 
going  back  to  about  900  B.C.  These  two,  again, 
distinctly  state  that  they  used  still  earlier  and 
evidently  independent  sources  as  already  pointed 
out  (p.  77).  The  sources  they  mention  are  some 
of  them  written  documents  which  even  in  their  day 
were  so  ancient  as  to  be  ascribed  to  Moses  himself. 
Other  sources  were  oral  traditions  or  written  col- 
lections of  oral  traditions.  There  is  no  desire 
here  to  minimize  the  risk  of  long  oral  transmis- 
sion. I  have  already  pointed  out  that  we  must 
make  full  allowance  for  this.  But  it  is  quite  a 
different  thing  to  doubt  that  the  history  Is  In  sub- 
stance historical,  or  to  suggest  that  the  writers, 
Instead  of  keeping  to  the  traditions  which  they 
had  received,  were  simply  Inventing  Ideal  pictures 
for  themselves. 

This  we  can  say,  judging  the  Bible  as  we  judge 
ordinary  secular  history.  But  Christian  men  will 
also  keep  in  mind  that  the  Bible  grew  In  a  com- 
munity solemnized  by  the  sense  of  God's  presence 
and  devoutly  remembering  and  recording,  how- 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT    123 

ever  imperfectly,  the  things  that  God  had  done. 
They  will  reverently  bring  in  the  thought  of  in- 
spiration and  of  Divine  oversight,  and  of  the  con- 
nection of  the  Old  Testament  with  the  coining  of 
Christ.  And  they  will  remember  how  our  dear 
Lord  Himself  loved  and  reverenced  that  old 
Book.  Though  these  things  do  not  guarantee 
inerrancy  in  its  history,  they  at  least  generate  an 
attitude  of  mind  averse  Jo.  gratuitous  suggestions 
of  doubt. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  COMPLETED  JEWISH  BIBLE" 
I 

iWe  have  seen  the  first  appearance  in 
Growth      history  of  the  completed  Pentateuch 
Canon        ^^^  watched  a  great  Jew,  Ezra,  from 
his  pulpit  of  wood  reading  this  First 
Jewish  Bible.     For  centuries  it  was  the  only  Jew- 
ish Bible,  and  to  the  first  generations  of  its  readers 
seemed  likely  to  remain  so.    But  God  had  decreed 
better  things. 

Now  two  hundred  years  have  elapsed  and  we 
watch  another  great  Jew  reading  his  Bible.  But 
he  is  finding  in  it  something  that  Ezra  could  not 
find  in  his.  ''I  understood  from  THE  BOOKS,'*  says 
Daniel,  "the  number  of  the  years  whereof  the 
Word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Jeremiah"  (Dan.  ix. 
2 ) .  Evidently  Daniel  had  in  his  Bible  the  prophe- 
cies of  Jeremiah. 

This  brings  us  to  the  second  stage  in  the 
formation  of  the  Canon  of  Scripture — -the  Canon 
of  the  Prophets. 

X24 


THE  COMPLETED  JEWISH  BIBLE     125 

§  2.  Beside  and  outside  their  first  national 
Bible  ''  THE  LAW  *'  were  the  sermons  and  writings 
of  the  prophets.  Not  only  their  sermons  and 
prophecies,  but  the  national  histories  written  in 
the  prophet  spirit  interpreting  the  relation  of  Je- 
hovah to  the  world. 

The  Prophets,  it  must  be  remembered,  were 
not  mere  foretellers.  They  were  mainly  forth- 
tellers,  preachers  of  righteousness.  And  they  were 
not  mere  enthusiasts.  They  were  in  the  main  prac- 
tical men,  statesmen  and  patriots  who  arose  in 
the  great  crises  of  the  national  life  to  keep  men 
true  to  the  Highest.  Above  all  things  they  were 
Seers — ^men  of  Divine  intuition — as  the  Bible  puts 
it,  men  inspired  of  God.  They  saw  the  facts  as 
they  were,  but  they  could  look  beneath  the  surface 
and  see  also  what  was  essential  and  significant 
in  these  facts.  By  the  influence  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  they  saw  the  eternal  principles  which 
must  for  ever  guide  the  life  of  nations  and  men, 
and  fearlessly  they  proclaimed  them  to  their  own 
to  all  succeeding  ages.  The  truths  and  principles 
which  they  apprehended  were  so  obvious  and  con- 
vincing that  each  true  prophet  was  absolutely  cer- 
tain of  their  divine  origin.  They  felt  their  Indi- 
viduality merged  into  the  Divine  personality  and 
when  they  spoke  they  felt  it  was  God  speaking 
through  them.     That  is  the  meaning  of  their 


126         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

daring  expression  "THus  salth  the  Lord,"  "Hear 
ye  therefore  the  Word  of  the  Lord.''  We,  too, 
believe  In  the  truth  of  their  conviction.  As  the 
Christian  creed  puts  it,  *'We  believe  In  the  Holy 
Ghost  who  spake  by  the  Prophets." 

Looking  back  now  we  can  see  how  Impossible 
It  was  that  the  Pentateuch  should  remain  the 
whole  Jewish  Bible,  with  this  miraculous  phenome- 
non of  prophecy  so  prominent  in  the  nation  pro- 
claiming so  directly  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  stir- 
ring so  deeply  the  national  life.  To  us  the  Proph- 
ets stand  out  even  higher  than  the  Law,  teaching 
a  nobler  and  more  spiritual  religion.  At  any  rate 
it  was  clearly  Inevitable  that  they  should  some  day. 
come  into  the  Bible. 

Gradually  this  conviction  grew  in  the  JewisK 
Church.  When  the  prophets  came  the  people  had 
often  opposed  them  and  killed  them  for  their 
stern  rebuking  of  sin.  But  afterwards  when  God's 
spirit  touched  them  to  remorse,  and  especially 
when  Prophecy  became  rarer  and  threatened  to 
die  out,  then  Israel  looked  back  reverently  and 
with  loving  regret  to  the  great  fearless  preachers 
who,  as  they  confessed,  had  "testified  against 
them  to  turn  them  to  God"  (Neh.  ix.  26). 

With  the  great  sermons  of  the  prophets  the 
Jews  count  also  their  national  histories  written  in 
prophetic  spirit,  interpreting  the  relation  of  God 


THE  COMPLETED  JEWISH  BIBLE     127 

to  men.  They  believed  them  to  be  written  by 
prophets.  Therefore  they  call  them  the  Former 
Prophecies.  And  surely  we  can  see  why.  For 
these  histories  not  only  relate  facts,  but  interpret 
tliem,  show  God  behind  them.  And  who  but  the 
Seers  see  God  behind  the  facts  of  life. 


§  3.  Most  of  the  early  prophets'  discourses 
were  only  oral,  and  therefore  have  been  entirely 
lost,  having  doubtless  accomplished  their  purpose 
in  helping  the  ordinary  religious  life  of  the  nation. 
But  in  God's  good  Providence  the  Great  Prophe- 
cies were  preserved,  the  central  expression  of  Is- 
rael's religion,  "the  culmination  of  all  religion  be- 
fore the  time  of  Christ."  Long  before  the  Exile 
there  were  collections  of  the  chief  prophetic  ut- 
terances committed  to  writing  by  the  prophets 
themselves  or  their  disciples.  (See,  e.g,f  Baruch 
writing  down  some  of  the  prophecies  of  Jeremiah, 
Jer.  xlv.  I.)  And  with  the  increasing  spiritual 
perception  of  their  value  came  the  strong  impulse 
to  preserve  them  from  oblivion,  though  probably 
with  no  intention  yet  to  place  them  in  a  "Bible" 
beside  the  Sacred  Law.  After  the  Captivity  these 
collections  were  compiled  and  edited,  not  always 
very  skilfully,  as  witness  the  dislocated  condition 
of  the  prophecies  of  Jeremiah  and  the  two  great 


128         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

sets  of  oracles  brought  together  under  Isaiah's 
name.  The  Minor  Prophets  stood  early  in  a  col- 
lection by  themselves  as  *'  The  Book  of  the 
Twelve." 

The  prophetic  histories  (Joshua,  Judges,  Sam- 
uel and  Kings)  were  the  result  of  a  long  series  of 
compiling  and  editing.  From  the  abundant 
sources  quoted  in  them  we  can  see  that  there  were 
many  earlier  histories  behind  them.  Probably 
these  which  we  have  were,  humanly  speaking,  a 
*'  survival  of  the  fittest,"  being  those  which  best 
recorded  the  facts  and  best  interpreted  the  eternal 
principles  behind  the  facts. 

More  and  more  men  felt  the  preciousness  of 
all  this  prophet  literature,  and  so  came  the  half- 
unconscious  preparation  for  the  **  Canon  of  the 
Prophets,"  and  the  growing  recognition  of  their 
right  to  be  added  to  the  Bible. 

Probably  nearly  two  centuries  after  the  return 
from  the  Exile  this  collection  of  the  Prophets,  so 
long  practically  recognized,  became  officially  rec- 
ognized, and  thus  The  Former  Prophets,  i.e, 
Joshua,  Judges,  Samuel,  and  Kings  and  The  Lat- 
ter Prophets,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezeklel,  and 
The  Book  of  the  Twelve  were  placed  In  the  Canon 
of  Holy  Scripture.  It  would  be  tedious  to  go  into 
details  of  the  history  of  this  period.  In  any  case 
that  history  Is  very  obscure.    Suffice  It  to  say  that 


THE  COMPLETED  JEWISH  BIBLE     129 

somewhere  in  the  third  century  B.C.  is  to  be  placed 
the  official  recognition  of  the  Canon  of  the  Proph- 
ets as  part  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  inspired  by  God. 
Thus,  perhaps  250  years  before  Christ,  came 
the  enlarged  Jewish  Bible,  the  "Law  and  the 
Prophets,"  the  book  in  which  Daniel  found  the 
prophecy  of  Jeremiah. 


II 


Completion  Now  comes  the  final  stage.     We 

of  the  ha\^e  watched  the  Jew,  Ezra,  read- 
Hebrew  Ing  the  first  Bible— 'The  Law.'' 
Bib  e.  y^^  hzve  watched  another  Jew, 
Daniel,  two  hundred  years  afterwards,  reading 
the  second  Bible,  The  Law  and  the  Proph- 
ets. And  now,  about  fifty  years  after  him, 
we  watch  a  third  Jew,  away  in  Alexandria 
in  Egypt.  He  is  writing  (132  B.C.)  a  translation 
of  an  apocryphal  book  by  his  grandfather,  "The 
Wisdom  of  Jesus  the  son  of  Sirach,"  of  which  we 
shall  hear  more  later  on,  and  in  his  preface  he 
mentions  three  times  the  Sacred  Scriptures  of  his 
nation.  But  notice  what  he  calls  them,  "  The  Law 
and  the  Prophets  and  the  others  who  followed 
after  them^  and  again,  *'The  Law  and  the 
Prophets  and  the  other  Books  of  our  Fathers/' 


130         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

and  yet  again,  "The  Law  and  the  Prophets  and 
the  rest  of  the  Books  J' 

Evidently  the  Jewish  Bible  has  again  grown  or 
at  least  is  growing.  Other  books  are  coming  into 
the  Canon  of  Scripture.  And  it  would  appear  that 
the  process  has  been  going  on  for  some  time,  for 
the  writer  here  assumes  that  even  the  Egyptian 
Jews  know  of  it. 

This  is  our  first  clear  intimation  of  the  third 
stage  in  the  Making  of  the  Old  Testament.  Like 
the  other  stages  It  was  slow  and  gradual.  It  runs 
on  to  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era. 


§  2.  Surely  the  overruling  Providence  of 
God  was  at  the  making  of  that  Jewish  Bible.  In 
their  exaggerated  reverence  for  its  first  part  The 
Law,  one  wonders  how  they  ever  let  any  other 
books  in.  When  the  Prophets  had  got  into  the 
sacred  enclosure,  doubtless  they  thought  their 
Bible  must  now  be  complete.  But  the  God  of  the 
Wilderness  journey  was  guiding  them  still  "speak- 
ing to  the  children  of  Israel  that  they  go  for- 
ward." 

Outside  the  limits  of  the  Sacred  Canon  of  The 
Law  and  the  Prophets,  there  remained  an  abun- 
dant religious  literature  which  could  not  well 
come  under  either  of  those  headings,  and  which 


THE  COMPLETED  JEWISH  BIBLE      131 

contained  phases  of  spiritual  truth  not  yet  in- 
cluded in  the  Bible.  In  this  literature  certain  parts 
had  stood  out  prominent  for  generations  in  the 
reverence  and  regard  of  the  spiritual  in  Israel. 
Doubtless  most  popular  of  all  was  the  Psalter. 
From  the  older  days,  from  the  choir  desks  of  the 
first  Temple  ^  had  come  sheets  of  psalms  and  tem- 
ple music  composed  by  holy  men  for  the  service 
of  Jehovah,  and  if  we  may  judge  from  the  habits 
of  modern  choirboys,  not  always  in  very  good 
order  or  preservation.  We  have  a  glimpse  of 
the  men  of  Hezeklah  in  early  days  picking  out 
from  this  temple  music  the  psalms  of  David  and 
Asaph  the  Seer  (2  Chron.  xxix.  30).  With  these 
were  the  newer  hymns  of  the  second  Temple.  All 
these  by  gradual  growth  and  survival  of  favour- 
ites probably  grew  into  the  fivQ  little  hymnbooks 
as  indicated  in  our  Revised  Version,  and  It  is  very 
likely  that  they  were  the  first  part  of  this  third 
group  of  Writings  to  gain  admission  into  the 
Canon. 

Also  among3t  this  literature  were  the  words  of 
"them  that  speak  in  proverbs,"  writings  of  ethical 

iJt  is  sometimes  asserted  that  we  have  no  Psalms  before 
the  Exile.  But  the  evidence  is  unconvincing.  What  were  the 
"Songs  of  Zion"  that  the  exiles  refused  to  sing  (Ps.  xxxvii.  3,  4), 
and  the  several  psalms  referring  to  the  king?  See  the  reference 
in  Isa.  Ixiv.  11,  Jer.  xxxiii.  11.  See  also  "the  Age  of  Song  and 
Story"  in  my  earlier  chapter.  Is  it  likely  that  this  poetry-loving 
people  had  no  early  psalms? 


132         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

and  religious  interest,  the  Words  of  Solomon,  the 
precepts  of  Lemuel's  mother  (Prov.  xxi.  i),  the 
collection  of  proverbs  made  in  the  great  religious 
movement  in  Hezekiah's  reign  (Prov.  xxv.  i). 
There  was  that  wonderful  dramatic  poem,  "Job'* 
grappling  with  deep  questions  which  men  were 
asking  about  the  mystery  of  evil.  There  was  the 
Book  of  Daniel,  which  had  come  too  late  for  ad- 
mission into  *'  the  Prophets,"  and  many  other 
books  containing  in  more  or  less  imperfect  form, 
glimpses  of  precious  spiritual  truth.  Probably  we 
quite  underestimate  the  amount  of  such  literature 
and  the  number  of  books  of  collections  which  were 
made.  There  is  a  suggestive  hint  in  the  Book  of 
Ecclesiastes  (third  century  B.C.)  *'of  the  making 
of  books  there  is  no  end"  (Eccl.  xii.  12),  and  we 
know  of  a  very  large  number  of  books  of  this 
date  which  failed  to  get  into  the  Bible. 

§  3.  Of  all  this  religious  literature  under  the 
overruling  Providence  of  God  the  best  kept  rising 
to  the  top  In  the  estimation  of  faithful  hearts  In 
Israel.  What  Impulse  (humanly  speaking)  moved 
them  to  gather  these  into  their  Bible?  History 
does  not  relate.  We  can  only  conjecture;  and  If 
we  are  right,  it  came  again  of  a  great  tribulation 
like  the  Impulse  that  led  them  to  form  their  Book 
of  the  Law. 


THE  COMPLETED  JEWISH  BIBLE     133 

Here  is  a  picture  from  this  period  of  the  his- 
tory. The  time  Is  B.C.  i68.  The  trouble  Is  the 
awful  persecution  of  Antlochus,  the  mad  Syrian 
king,  the  raid  not  chiefly  against  city  or  people, 
but  against  Jehovah  and  especially  against  the 
holy  Manuscripts. 

It  is  an  awful  story,  told  by  Josephus,  told  In 
the  Apocrypha  In  the  First  Book  of  Macca- 
bees ^ — a  story  of  the  Temple  walls  spattered  with 
blood,  of  Bibles  torn  asunder  and  burned  In  the 
fire,  of  the  fierce  fight  of  men,  of  the  walling  of 
women,  of  the  altar  to  Jove  In  the  place  of  Je- 
hovah, of  the  great  sow  slaughtered  In  Insult  In 
the  Temple  Itself,  and  the  broth  of  Its  filthy 
flesh  sprinkled  on  the  sacred  parchments.  We 
can  still  read  the  cry  wrung  from  the  hearts  of  the 
tortured  people — 

"  O  God,  the  heathen  are  come  Into  Thy  in- 
heritance ;  Thy  holy  temple  have  they  defiled  and 
made  Jerusalem  a  heap  of  stones !  The  dead  bod- 
ies of  Thy  servants  have  they  given  to  be  meat 
unto  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  the  flesh  of  Thy 
saints  unto  the  beasts  of  the  land!  Their  blood 
have  they  shed  like  water  on  every  side  of  Jerusa- 
lem and  there  was  no  man  to  bury  them."  * 

2  Josephus  Antiquities  xii.   5;   Diod   Sie  xxxiv.   i;   i  Mac- 
cabees iii. 

•  Ps.  Ixxix,  most  probably  written  at  this  period. 


134         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

This  IS  not  the  place  to  enlarge  on  that  story 
and  to  tell  of  the  heroic  struggle  under  Judas  the 
Maccabee — one  of  the  noblest  chapters  in  all  Is- 
rael's history.  We  are  but  conjecturing  that  in 
that  terrible  destruction  of  the  Scriptures  the 
patriot  Jews  were  stirred  to  an  intenser  zeal  for 
all  their  sacred  literature  and  probably  realized 
more  than  ever  before  what  a  precious  treasure 
had  been  committed  to  them. 


§  4.  At  any  rate  we  know  that  somewhere  in 
this  period  came  the  impulse  to  gather  into  their 
Bible  certain  of  those  books  which  still  lay  out- 
side it — those  which  were  most  loved  and  ven- 
erated by  the  faithful.  We  are  left  much  to  tradi- 
tion and  conjecture.  We  have  a  probably  true  tra- 
dition in  a  spurious  letter  prefixed  to  2  Maccabees, 
that  Judas  the  Maccabee  "  gathered  together  for 
us  all  those  writings  which  had  been  scattered  by 
reason  of  the  war."  We  have  the  statement  (2 
Maccabees  ii.  13)  that  Nehemiah,  founding  a  col- 
lection of  books,  "gathered  together  the  writings 
concerning  kings  and  prophets  and  the  things  of 
David  and  letters  of  kings  about  offerings."  But 
this  does  not  help  us  in  the  important  question, 
the  raising  of  certain  venerated  books  into  the 
Canon  of  Holy  Scripture. 


THE  COMPLETED  JEWISH  BIBLE      135 

We  do  not  know  any  details.  We  can  only 
state  the  result,  that  about  120  years  before 
Christ,  the  Old  Testament  was  practically  com- 
pleted by  the  addition  of  the  "  Kethubim "  or 
"  Writings  "  consisting,  according  to  the  Jewish 
list,  of — 

(a)  The  Poetical  Books:  Psalms,  Proverbs, 
Job. 

(b)  The  Five  Rolls:  Canticles,  Ruth,  Lam- 
entations, Daniel,  Esther. 

(c)  The  remaining  Books:  Ezra,  Nehe- 
miah,  Chronicles. 

Practically  completed,  we  say,  for  some 
books  such  as  Esther  and  Canticles  remained  long 
on  the  disputed  borderland  (just  like  certain  New 
Testament  Books,  as  we  shall  see  later).  It 
seemed  at  one  time  probable  that  Esther  and  Can- 
ticles would  have  been  excluded.  It  seemed  also 
quite  possible  that  Ecclesiasticus  and  i  Maccabees 
might  have  got  in.  There  is  nothing  strange 
about  this.  It  is  quite  a  natural  thing  that  when 
a  religious  community  is  selecting  the  books  which 
seem  to  have  most  of  Divine  inspiration,  the  line 
of  demarcation  should  sometimes  be  a  little  doubt- 
ful, that  some  books  should  lie  for  many  years  on 
the  debatable  borderland.  Those  disputed  bor- 
derland books  which  failed  to  gain  admission  are 


136         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

known  as  the  Apocrypha,  which  Is  treated  of 
later  on. 

It  was  not  until  the  Synod  of  Jamnia,  about 
90  A.D.,  that  Esther  and  Canticles  were  finally 
accepted  and  the  list  of  Old  Testament  Books 
officially  completed. 

Thus,  shortly  before  the  coming  of  the  Christ 
was  finished  that  sacred  collection  of  Books  of 
which  He  Himself  says,  "  These  are  they  which 
testify  of  Me."  And  then,  as  if  conscious  that  her 
mission  was  accomplished  and  her  national  history 
ended,  the  Jewish  Church  closed  her  Canon  of 
Scripture,  giving  us  the  complete  Old  Testament 
as  we  have  it  to-day.    . 


§  5.  After  what  has  been  said  In  the  earlier 
part  of  this  book,  surely  no  reader  needs  here  to 
be  told  that  these  Scribes  and  Doctors  of  the  Cap- 
tivity, or  afterwards,  did  not  decide  what  was  to 
be  accepted  as  the  Scriptures  of  God.  Yet  at  risk 
of  tedlousness,  let  me  repeat  that  these  Scribes 
and  Doctors  had  very  little  to  do  with  the  decision. 
The  mass  of  Old  Testament  Books  gained  canon- 
ical authority  because  for  centuries  they  had  by 
their  own  Inherent  power  commended  themselves 
to  the  spiritual  discernment  of  the  godly  In  Israel. 
They  had  long  established  themselves  in  the  hearts 


THE  COMPLETED  JEWISH  BIBLE      137 

of  the  faithful  with  an  authority  which  could  not 
be  shaken  or  confirmed  by  official  decision.  The 
men  who  compiled  the  Bible  simply  accepted  es- 
tablished facts.  They  decided  not  what  was  to  be 
Bible  but  what  was  already  Bible,  They  recorded 
not  their  own  judgment,  but  that  of  ages  before 
them.  Their  verdict  only  asserted,  "  These  are 
the^  books  which  have  been  for  generations  ac- 
cepted amongst  us  as  of  divine  authority."  In 
the  case  of  the  few  controverted  books,  e,g, 
Esther  and  Canticles,  the  authority  and  theories 
of  certain  Scribes  doubtless  played  a  part,  but 
for  the  mass  of  the  Old  Testament  Books  the 
Jewish  Church  was  simply  recording  the  verdict 
of  many  generations  before  them. 


§  6.  The  earliest  Jewish  evidence  shows  that 
we  have  exactly  their  collection  of  Sacred  Books. 
The  most  precise  is  that  of  Josephus,  the  famous 
Jewish  historian,  who  was  contemporary  with 
some  of  the  Apostles  of  our  Lord.  He  gives  us 
the  complete  list  of  the  books  in  his  Jewish  Bible 
which  exactly  coincide  with  our  list.  And  he  says, 
"  Though  so  long  a  time  has  now  passed  no  one 
has  dared  to  add  anything  to  them  or  alter  any- 
thing. But  all  Jews  are  instinctively  led  from  the 
moment  of  their  birth  to  regard  them  as  decrees 


138         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

of  God,  and  to  abide  by  them  and,  if  need  be, 
gladly  die  for  them.'* 

More  Important  still  is  the  fact  that  this  collec- 
tion of  sacred  books  was  not  only  the  authoritative 
inspired  Bible  of  the  Jewish  Church,  but  also  the 
only  authoritative  inspired  Bible  of  the  Christian 
Church  for  very  many  years  until  it  was  again 
enlarged  by  the  gradual  Inclusion  of  the  New 
Testament  writings.  Our  Lord  and  His  Apostles 
recognize  it  as  "  the  Scriptures,"  "  the  Law  and 
the  Prophets,"  "the  Oracles  of  God."  They 
never  hint  that  this  collection  of  sacred  books  is 
imperfect  or  excessive.  They  quote  it  as  the  in- 
spired teaching  of  God  and  the  authoritative 
standard  to  end  all  controversy.  It  is  Jesus  Him- 
self who  bids  men  search  these  Scriptures  and 
answers  an  inquirer's  question  by  referring  him 
to  this  Bible,  "  What  is  written  in  the  Law,  How 
readest  thou?  '* 


PART  III 

THE  APOCRYPHA 


THE  APOCRYPHA 


This  story  of  the  Making  of  the  Bible 

'^^^         would  be  very  incomplete  without  some 

Books  ^     account  of  the    Apocrypha,    i.e.    the 

books  which  stood  nearest  in  esteem  to 
the  recognized  Scriptures,  but  were  denied  a  place 
in  the  Canon.  From  what  we  have  already  seen 
of  the  way  in  which  certain  parts  of  the  religious 
literature  of  Israel  rose  in  the  religious  conscious- 
ness to  recognition  as  "  Bible,"  it  must  be  evident 
that  wherever  the  line  had  been  drawn  there  must 
always  be  some  borderland  books  just  outside  the 
boundary.  Practically  these  are  what  is  meant  by 
Apocryphal  Books,  both  in  the  Old  Testament 
and,  as  we  shall  see  later,  in  the  New  Testament 
also.  The  word  Apocrypha  means  "  hidden," 
*'  kept  from  public  use."  Men  might  "  hide  " 
books  because  of  their  esoteric  teaching,  too  high 
for  the  crowd,  or  because  they  were  not  sufficiently 
valuable  for  public  instruction.  Long  essays  have 
been  written  on  the  gradations  of  meaning  of  the 
word,  but  it  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  it  here, 

141 


142         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

especially  as  It  is  not  at  all  an  appropriate  title 
for  these  books,  being  much  more  suitable  to  an- 
other part  of  this  Jewish  literature  which  is  called 
Apocalyptic. 

In  the  last  chapter  (p.  129)  we  came  on  a  Jew 
writing  a  preface  to  a  religious  book  written  by 
his  grandfather,  Jesus  the  son  of  Sirach.  We  were 
not  concerned  at  all  there  with  this  book  of  his 
grandfather.  But  we  are  here.  For  this  book 
(Ecclesiasticus)  was  probably  amongst  the  first, 
and  certainly  amongst  the  best  of  all  the  books  of 
the  Apocrypha.  Here  is  the  list  of  the  books  com- 
monly known  by  that  name — 

i  and  2  esdras.  baruch. 

tobit.  song  of  the  three 

judith.  children, 

remainder  of  esther.  story  of  susanna. 

the  wisdom   of   solo-  bel  and  the  dragon. 

mon.  prayer  of  manasses. 

the  wisdom  of  jesus  i  maccabees. 

the  son   of   sirach  2  maccabees. 

(ecclesiasticus). 

Their  position  varies  very  much  In  the  different 
sections  of  Christendom.  In  the  Roman  Church 
the  Apocryphal  books  stand  with  the  Inspired 
books  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  in  equal  position 


THE  APOCRYPHA  143 

-*^     , 
and  authority;  the  usage  of  the  Greek  Church 

seems  to  vacillate  between  the  Roman  position 
and  that  of  their  own  official  Longer  Catechism 
which  relegates  these  books  to  a  subordinate  posi- 
tion; the  Church  of  England  places  them  as  a  sort 
of  appendix  to  the  Old  Testament,  not  as  canon- 
ical Scriptures,  but  as  books  useful  for  edification; 
while  the  various  churches  of  Protestantism  re-, 
ject  them  altogether.  I  merely  note  these  posi- 
tions here.    We  shall  discuss  them  later  on. 

§  2.  But  whatever  position  be  assigned  to 
them  the  Apocryphal  books  ought  to  be  known  a 
good  deal  better  than  they  are.  The  fact  that 
they  have  been  a  part — though  an  inferior  part — 
of  the  Christian  Bible  from  the  beginning  to  this 
day  should  be  a  sufficient  reason.  But  there  are 
other  reasons. 

These  books  form  a  prominent  part  of  the 
Jewish  religious  literature  in  the  age  just  before 
Christ,  and  are  therefore  an  important  aid  to- 
wards understanding  that  age,  and  "putting  our- 
selves in  the  place  "  of  the  Jews  at  the  impact  of 
Christianity.  They  carry  on  the  Jewish  history 
and  literature  over  the  gap  after  prophecy  ceased 
and  illustrate  the  way  in  which  religious  ideas 
kept  growing.  For  instance,  the  scant  teaching 
about  the  future  life  in  the  Old  Testament  makes 


144        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

us  rather  surprised  at  the  Pharisees'  profession  of 
belief  in  the  Resurrection  and  angels  and  spirits 
(Acts  xxiii.  8).  But  this  literature  shows  us  that 
the  belief  had  rapidly  grown  in  the  interval  and 
was  considerably  helped  by  these  apocryphal 
books.  The  chief  New  Testament  word  for  Res- 
urrection ( amo-rao-is )  appears  first  in  the  Second 
Book  of  the  Maccabees.  And  it  is  the  Apocrypha 
which  gives  us  that  fine  Church  lesson  read  on  All 
Saints  Day — 

"The  souls  of  the  righteous  are  in  the  hands  of  God,  and 
there  shall  no  torment  touch  them.  In  the  sight  of  the 
unwise  they  seemed  to  die.  Their  departure  is  taken 
for  misery  and  their  going  from  us  to  be  utter  destruction, 
but  they  are  in  peace.  For  though  they  be  punished  in 
the  sight  of  men  yet  is  their  hope  full  of  immortality. 
And  having  been  a  little  chastised  they  shall  be  greatly 
rewarded  for  God  proved  them  and  found  them  worthy 
of  Himself."     Wisdom  iii. 

The  Apocrypha  traces  also  for  us  a  distinct 
advance  in  the  ideals  and  the  aspirations  after  a 
Messiah,  as  also  does  the  other  religious  literature 
of  the  same  period  which  is  called  Apocalyptic. 
The  Book  of  Enoch  ^  for  example,  not  only  shows 
a  strong  Messianic  hope  and  uses  the  names  "  the 
Christ  '*  and  "  the  Just  One,"  but  actually  gives 
us  the  first  use  in  Jewish  literature  of  the  title 

1  Not  in  the  Apocryphal  list  but  belonging  to  the  Apocalyptic 
literature  of  that  period.     See  Jude  v.  14. 


THE  APOCRYPHA  145 

which  our  Lord  loved  to  appropriate  to  Himself 
"the  Son  of  Man."  What  a  light  is  thrown  on 
that  title  and  on  the  tense  expectation  of  a  Mes- 
siah and  on  the  mysterious  spirit  of  prophecy  in 
the  Jewish  Church  before  He  came — when  one 
reads  in  the  Book  of  Enoch  (about  2nd  century 
B.C.)  : 


"And  there  I  saw  One  who  had  a  Head  of  Days,  and  His 
head  was  white  like  wool,  and  with  Him  was  another  Being 
whose  countenance  had  the  appearance  of  a  man  and  his  face 
was  full  of  graciousness  like  one  of  the  holy  angels.  And  I 
asked  the  angel  who  went  with  me  and  showed  me  all  the 
hidden  things  concerning  the  Son  of  Man,  who  He  was  and 
whence  He  was  and  why  He  went  with  the  Head  of  Days. 
And  He  answered  and  said  unto  me,  This  is  the  Son  of 
Man  who  hath  righteousness,  with  whom  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness and  who  reveals  all  the  treasures  of  that  which  is 
hidden,  because  the  Lord  of  Spirits  hath  chosen  Him,  and  His 
lot  before  the  Lord  of  Spirits  hath  surpassed  everything  in 
uprightness  for  ever.  And  this  Son  of  Man  .  .  .  will  arouse  the 
Kings  and  the  mighty  ones  from  their  thrones  and  will  loosen 
the  reins  of  the  strong. 

"And  at  that  hour  that  Son  of  Man  was  named  in  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  of  Spirits  and  His  name  was  before  the 
Head  of  Days.  And  before  the  Sun  and  the  Signs  were  created, 
before  the  Stars  of  the  heaven  were  made.  His  Name  was 
named  before  the  Lord  of  Spirits.  He  will  be  a  Staff  to  the 
righteous  on  which  they  will  support  themselves  and  not  fall, 
and  He  will  be  the  Light  of  the  Gentiles  and  the  hope  of  those 
who  are  troubled  of  heart.  All  who  dwell  in  the  earth  will 
fall  down  and  bow  the  knee  before  Him  and  will  bless  and 
laud  and  celebrate  with  song  the  Lord  of  Spirits.  For  this  reason 
had  He  been  chosen  and  hidden  before  Him,  before  the  creation 
of  the  world  and  for  evermore." 

(Enoch  xlv.  1-5,  xltiii.  2-6,  Charles'  Translation) 


146         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

§  3.  The  Book  of  Enoch,  though  not  one  of 
the  Apocryphal  books  bound  up  with  our  Bibles, 
is  an  Interesting  specimen  of  the  religious  litera- 
ture of  which  the  Apocrypha  formed  part. 

There  Is  too  In  the  best  of  the  books 
much  of  sound  practical  religious  advice  In  the 
little  details  which  compose  human  life.  God  and 
Right  and  Duty  and  Self-sacrifice  and  Discipline 
are  prominent  notes  in  the  teaching.  If  the  fash- 
ionable literary  faddists  who  write  and  talk  so 
much  of  the  pagan  "  Wisdom-books  "  of  the  East, 
would  study  beside  them  the  Wisdom-books  of  the 
Apocrypha,  it  should  considerably  profit  them. 
It  is  worth  while  noticing  also  a  certain  literary 
Interest  connected  with  the  Apocrypha.  Such 
well-known  expressions  as  "A  Daniel  come  to 
Judgment!"  "He  that  touches  pitch  shall  be 
defiled,"  "  Magna  est  Veritas  et  praevalet,"  the 
hymns  "  Now  thank  we  all  our  God,"  "  Jesus,  the 
very  thought  of  Thee,"  originate  In  these  books, 
while  Handel's  great  composition  "  See  the  Con- 
quering Hero  comes  "  is  for  ever  associated  with 
the  hero  day  of  the  Maccabees. 


§  4.  What  has  been  here  said  must  not, 
however,  be  taken  as  generally  applying  to  all 
these  books.     They  are  very  unequal  in  value. 


THE  APOCRYPHA  147 

While  such  books  as  Eccleslastlcus  and  Wisdom 
seem  fitted  to  stand  side  by  side  with  some  of  the 
later  Old  Testament,  and  i  Maccabees  is  the 
grandest  story  in  history  of  a  great  soldier  of  God, 
there  are  others  which  are  very  puerile  and  silly 
in  spite  of  sensible  religious  teaching  in  them.  It 
IS  said  that  there  was  a  time  when  i  Maccabees 
and  Ecclesiasticus  seemed  likely  to  find  a  place  in 
the  Jewish  Canon  of  Scripture,  and  if  it  were  so 
one  does  not  wonder  at  it.  But  it  is  quite  possible 
to  overdo  our  appreciation  of  the  Apocrypha  as  a 
whole.  Some  of  it  is  very  inferior  and,  as  we  read 
it,  we  may  be  thankful  that  a  higher  than  human 
wisdom  guided  the  Making  of  the  Bible. 


II 


The  Let  US  glance  briefly  at  its  history. 

Apocrypha    j^  ^^^^  ^^  ^j^^^.^    understood  that  the 

in  the  •' 

Jewish  Return  from  the  Exile  in  the  days  of 
Bible.  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  only  meant  the 
return  of  a  comparatively  small  minority.  The 
bulk  of  the  exiles  remained  in  their  new  home. 
Perhaps  they  were  not  the  most  earnest  and  re- 
ligious, but  it  IS  very  likely  that  they  were  the 
wealthiest  and  ablest  business  people.  They  pros- 
pered much  in  Babylon,  and  generation  after  gen- 
eration, with  the  keen  instinct  of  the  Jews,  they 


148         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

extended  themselves  for  trading  purposes  over  the 
chief  cities  of  the  East  till  almost  every  civilized 
nation  had  its  share  of  them.  Like  the  "  Greater 
Britain,"  which  we  speak  of  beyond  the  seas,  so 
was  the  "  greater  Israel  "  spreading  through  the 
civilized  world,  vastly  outnumbering  the  Palestine 
stock,  but  ever  looking  back  to  Jerusalem  as  exiles 
to  their  home.  We  form  some  idea  of  their  num- 
bers and  the  extent  of  their  wanderings  as  we 
watch  a  group  of  them  one  day  who  had  come 
back  to  Jerusalem  for  Pentecost,  "  Parthians  and 
Medes  and  Elamites  and  dwellers  in  Mesopo- 
tamia, In  Judea  and  Cappadocia,  In  Pontus  and 
Asia,  in  Phrygia  and  Pamphylia,  in  Egypt  and 
the  parts  of  Libya  about  Cyrene,  strangers  from 
Rome  both  Jews  and  Proselytes,  Cretes  and  Ara- 
bians." ^ 

This  "Greater  Israel"  is  what  Is  known  in 
the  New  Testament  as  the  ^^Diaspora,^^  or  Dis- 
persion, that  great  outside  world  of  Jews  to  which 
the  Epistles  of  James  and  i  Peter  were  addressed. 
Everywhere  they  carried  with  them  their  religion, 
and  especially  their  sacred  Book  of  the  Law,  as  we 
read,  "  Moses  hath  in  every  city  them  that  preach 
him,  being  read  In  the  synagogues  every  Sabbath 
day."  ^ 

It  Is  Impossible  to  exaggerate  the  vast  Influence 
^  Acts  ii.  9.  2  Acta  ^y.  21. 


THE  APOCRYPHA  m 

of  tHis  *'People  of  the  Dispersion"  in  the  found- 
ing of  Christianity.  Here  was  the  ground  pre- 
pared all  over  the  heathen  world,  the  worship 
of  the  One  God  and  the  prominence  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  which  were  the  preparation  for  the 
Messiah.  And,  here,  too,  in  one  of  the  cities 
of  the  Dispersion  young  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  be- 
ing prepared  for  his  life  work. 


§  2.  The  two  chief  centres  of  this  Greater 
Israel  were  Babylon  and  Alexandria,  and  the 
latter  is  the  place  chiefly  connected  with  the 
story  of  the  Apocrypha.  When  Alexander  the 
Great,  with  statesmanlike  foresight,  had  taken  the 
Egyptian  fishing  village  of  Rhacotis  and  founded 
there  his  magnificent  port  and  city,  he  settled  in 
it  large  numbers  of  Jews.  These  grew  rapidly, 
and  were  steadily  reinforced  by  emigrants  from 
the  homeland,  until  Alexandria  became  largely 
a  Jewish  city.  Fully  half  the  inhabitants  were 
Jews.  It  was  a  new  "Israel  in  Egypt"  set  at 
the  very  heart  of  the  Empire. 

But  as  generation  after  generation  passed, 
the  exiles  far  away  from  the  fatherland  lost 
touch  altogether  with  their  national  language. 
Greek  was  the  universal  language  of  the  time, 
therefore,  they  knew  Greek,  the  language  of  their 


150         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

neighbours,  and  did  not  know  Hebrew  except  as 
a  classic.  And  therefore  it  became  necessary,  if 
they  were  to  have  a  People's  Bible,  that  that 
Bible  should  be  in  Greek.  Now  the  King  of 
Egypt,  Ptolemy  Phlladelphus  (B.C.  250),  was 
friendly  to  the  Jews,  and  took  a  deep  interest 
in  their  history  and  literature.  So  he  got  the 
Hebrew  Bible  translated  into  Greek  for  his  great 
library,  and  thus  began  the  famous  Greek  Bible, 
the  LXX  or  Septuagint,  which  afterwards  played 
so  large  a  part  in  Judaism  and  Christianity. 


§  3.  Naturally,  In  a  world  so  largely  Greek 
speaking,  the  Influence  of  Greek  learning  and 
Greek  culture  and  Greek  Ideas  would  be  very 
strong.  Even  in  Palestine,  where  we  should  least 
expect  It,  It  appeared  surrounding  and  in  some 
degree  sapping  the  rigid  Hebrew  excluslveness. 
There  were  two  opposing  tendencies;  the  spirit 
of  strict  rigid,  almost  fanatical  Judaism,  and  the 
spirit  of  easy  tolerance  and  ^'liberal  thought," 
and  sympathy  with  Gentile  learning.  The  Phar- 
isee of  our  Lord's  day  Is  the  representative  of 
the  one,  the  Saducee  of  the  other. 

The  Greek  spirit,  with  Its  easy  tolerant,  liberal 
attitude,  had  in  it  the  seeds  of  great  things,  good 
and  evil.     Its  tendency  was  to  make  bridges  be- 


THE  APOCRYPHA  151 

tween  the  strict  Hebrew  religion  and  the  broad- 
ness of  Gentile  philosophy,  "Your  heathen  sages, 
too,  were  taught  of  God,"  the  liberal  Jew  would 
say,  *'And  your  great  prophets,"  the  Greek  would 
reply,  *Vere  like  our  sages,  seeking  after  Truth." 
In  the  providential  preparation  for  a  world-wide 
religion  there  was  much  good  In  this.  It  broke 
up  the  Jewish  excluslveness.  It  made  possible 
broader  thoughts  of  God,  It  prepared  for  the 
revolutionary  work  of  St.  Paul. 

And  yet  It  was  a  dangerous  tendency  too.  For 
Its  easy  graceful  tolerance  had  not  much  depth 
of  spiritual  knowledge  or  conviction  behind  It. 
The  sense  of  God,  the  agonizing  sense  of  sin, 
the  sense  of  separation  from  an  evil  world,  all 
that  which  the  discipline  of  ages  had  wrought  Into 
the  lifeblood  of  Israel  meant  little  or  nothing 
to  the  polished  easy-going  Gentiles  seeking  In  their 
own  light  way  the  beautiful  and  the  good.  In 
a  man  like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  his  broader  training 
led  to  blessed  results  for  the  Church,  but  In 
smaller  men  there  was  a  risk  of  obliterating  the 
deepest  things  that  Israel  was  to  teach  to  the 
world. 

§  4.  It  Is  easy  then  to  understand  that  the 
foreign  Jews  living  for  centuries  in  close  friendly 
Intercourse  with  the  Gentile  people  around  them, 


152         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

would  be  likely  to  lose  a  good  deal  of  strict  Jew- 
ish exclusiveness.  It  would  be  especially  likely 
in  Alexandria,  which  was  a  great  centre  of  Greek 
learning.  At  first  it  would  have  no  effect  at  all 
upon  their  Bible,  for  their  first  Bible  was  only 
the  sacred  Law.  They  would  be  as  strict  about 
that  as  their  brethren  in  Palestine.  One  could  not 
imagine  a  faithful  Jew  anywhere  allowing  the 
Book  of  the  Law  to  be  tampered  with,  or  any 
new  book  to  stand  near  its  sacred  words. 

But  the  later  books  were  not  to  them  in  the 
same  position  as  the  Law.  And  these  later  books 
too  were  only  in  the  process  of  coming  into  the 
Bible.  The  boundary  line  had  not  yet  been  drawn. 
And  so  one  can  understand  if  a  new  book  teach- 
ing high  thoughts  about  God  and  religion  should 
grow  into  the  spiritual  affections  of  the  Jews  of 
Alexandria,  they  would  be  much  less  startled  than 
their  Palestine  brethren  at  the  idea  of  letting  it 
circulate  along  with  their  Scriptures.  The  Pales- 
stine  Jews  felt  that  a  special  Divine  inspiration 
was  the  essential  requisite  and  so  they  closed  their 
canon  when  prophecy  ceased.  But  the  Alexan- 
drian Jew,  in  his  ''liberal"  surroundings,  had  laxer 
views.  It  was  the  saying  of  the  famous  Jew, 
Philo  of  Alexandria,  "Every  good  man  is  in- 
spired," and  it  is  easy  to  se3  how  that  tendency 
would  be  likely  to  let  into  the  Bible  books  which 


THE  APOCRYPHA  153 

they  would  not  look  at  in  Palestine.  The  LXX 
Bible  was  growing.  The  later  part  of  the  Jew- 
ish Canon  was  coming  into  it,  but  rather  loosely, 
without  any  unity  of  plan.  And  by  degrees  there 
crept  in,  one  by  one,  into  successive  editions  the 
rather  good  and  edifying  books  which  we  now 
call  the  Apocrypha. 

So  the  Apocrypha  got  into  the  Greek  "Bible 
of  the  Dispersion,"  but  never  into  the  Hebrew 
Bible.  It  was  accepted  in  Alexandria,  but  never 
in  Palestine.  There  it,  and  the  Bible  which  con- 
tained it,  were  regarded  as  "an  abomination 
worse  than  the  worship  of  the  golden  calf." 


Ill 


Then  came   Christianity,   and  the 

Apocrypha    ^^^  Testament  was  its  Bible.    But  the 

in  the        vast  majority  did  not  know  Hebrew. 

Christian     Therefore  they  had  to  use  the  Greek 

Septuagint.    And  therefore  they  grew 

accustomed  to  the  Apocryphal  books  bound  with 

it.     And  therefore  it  was  almost  inevitable  that 

they  should  accord  them  a  quasi-recognition.     If 

we  should  bind  up  Thomas  a  Kempis  for  two 

centuries  with  the  New  Testament,  it  would  re- 


154         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

quire  very  frequent  reminders  to  keep  it  in  its 
true  position. 

Here  let  us  avoid  a  common  misunderstand- 
ing. Since  we  know  from  their  quotations  that 
the  apostles  used  the  LXX  it  is  often  assumed  that 
they  had  the  Apocrypha  in  their  Bibles.  But 
it  has  to  be  remembered  that  they  were  strict 
Jews  of  Palestine.  And  we  have  clear  evidence 
of  a  Palestine  LXX  with  only  the  books  of  the 
Hebrew  Scripture  in  it.^  Doubtless  they  knew 
some  of  the  Apocryphal  books.  What  patriotic 
Jew  would  be  ignorant  of  e.g.,  the  Story  of  the 
Maccabees?  But  acquaintance  with  a  religious 
literature  is  a  very  different  matter  from  taking  it 
as  authoritative  inspired  Scripture.  At  any  rate, 
amid  all  the  large  mass  of  quotations  in  the  New 
Testament  from  the  Old  there  is  not  one  single 
direct  quotation  from  any  book  of  the  Apocry- 
pha.^ 


§  2.     We  glance  now  very  briefly  at  the  posi- 
tion of  these  books  in  a  few  prominent  parts  of 

^  E.g.,  the  '  canon  of  Melito,  a.d.  172,  and  see  Westcott, 
"Bible  in  the  Church,"  p.  124. 

2  Jude  V.  14  is  no  exception,  as  Enoch  is  not  included  in  the 
Apocrypha.  Jude  is  quoting  probably  words  which  his  readers 
would  be  familiar  with  just  as  Paul  quoted  from  the  Greek 
poets  Aratus  and  Epimenides  (Acts  xvii.  8,  Titus  i.  12). 


THE  APOCRYPHA  155 

the  Church  at  different  times.  What  we  shall 
mainly  find  is  that  the  leaders  and  thinkers  in 
the  Church  frequently  point  out  the  distinction 
between  them  and  the  Canonical  Scriptures,  but 
that  in  popular  usage  the  distinction  is  very  much 
forgotten  and  more  so  as  the  Jewish  element  be- 
comes less  prominent  in  the  Church. 

In  later  chapters  on  the  New  Testament  his- 
tory we  shall  see,  about  the  year  200  A.D.,  three 
great  churchmen,  Irenaeus  and  Clement  and 
Tertullian,  in  widely  separated  churches.  Let  us 
hear  what  men  of  their  day  thought  about  the 
Apocrypha.  Irenaeus,  bishop  of  Lyons  in  Gaul, 
sometimes  assumes  that  the  LXX  contains  only 
the  Hebrew  Canonical  books.  Yet  he  quotes 
three  of  the  Apocrypha  with  the  undoubted  Scrip- 
ture. Clement  of  Alexandria,  the  city  where  the 
Apocrypha  started,  of  course  quotes  its  books. 
And  the  third  of  them,  Tertullian  from  Northern 
Africa,  has  the  Apocrypha  in  the  Bible  version 
of  his  church. 

It  is  worth  noticing  especially  that  version  of 
the  African  Church,  the  ''Old  Latin,"  as  it  is 
called,  for  it  had  an  Important  bearing  on  the 
Apocrypha  question  two  hundred  years  later. 
This  Old  Latin  version  was  made  direct  from^ 
the  Alexandrian  LXX,  and  consequently  con- 
tained the  Apocryphal  books,  and  this  Church  of 


156        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

North  Africa,  being  so  isolated  from  the  Eastern 
Churches,  seemed  to  consider  that  the  LXX  was 
the  original  Scriptures.  As  this  "Old  Latin" 
version  extended  widely,  even  in  later  days  as 
far  as  England  and  Ireland,  its  influence  on  the 
position  of  the  Apocrypha  was  very  considerable. 
We  shall  hear  of  it  again  later  in  the  days  of 
St.  Jerome. 


§  3.  Now  we  move  on  another  hundred 
years.  Eusebius,  the  famous  church  historian,  is 
bishop  of  Caesarea,  about  340  A.D.  He  is  a 
great  student  of  the  Canon  of  Scripture.  In  three 
separate  places  he  gives  lists  of  the  Canonical 
Scriptures,  and  in  every  case  omits  the  Apocry- 
pha. He  refers  to  some  of  its  books  as  "dis- 
puted," and  yet  at  another  time  he  Is  quoting 
from  the  book  of  Wisdom  as  if  it  were  Scrip- 
ture. 

Cyril,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  half  a  century 
later,  is  very  positive  against  the  use  of  the 
Apocrypha  as  Canonical  Scriptures.  Probably 
the  question  was  prominent  at  the  time.  "Learn 
from  the  Church,"  he  says,  "what  are  the  Books 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  I  pray  you 
read  nothing  of  the  Apocryphal  books.  .  .  .  For 
the  translation  of  the   Divine  Scriptures  which 


THE  APOCRYPHA  157 

were  spoken  by  the  Holy  Spirit  was  accomplished 
through  the  Holy  Spirit.  Read  the  twenty-two 
books  which  these  rendered,  but  have  nothing  to 
do  with  Apocryphal  writings." 

Look  back  again  now  after  one  hundred  years 
at  the  Church  of  Alexandria,  the  home  of  the 
Apocrypha,  and  hear  the  wise  measured  words 
of  Athanaslus,  its  great  Archbishop,  "All  the 
Books  of  the  Old  Testament  are  in  number 
twenty-two"  (here  he  gives  the  list  of  the  Canon- 
ical Books  as  in  our  Old  Testament  to-day 
and  goes  on)  "there  are  also  other  books  not 
included  in  these  nor  admitted  into  the  Canon, 
which  have  been  framed  by  the  fathers  for  the 
benefit  of  those  approaching  Christianity;  the 
Wisdom  of  Solomon — Wisdom  of  Sirach,"  etc. 

Now  we  turn  to  Rome.  It  Is  especially  im- 
portant for  us  Westerns  to  know  the  attitude  of 
the  Roman  Church  in  the  centre  of  the  Western 
world.  Ruffinus,  a  well-known  ecclesiastical 
writer  there,  a.d.  410,  gives  In  one  of  his  books 
the  Old  Testament  list  exactly  as  we  have  it, 
and  adds  "there  are  other  books  called  by  the 
ancients,  not  Canonical,  but  Ecclesiastical,  i.e. 
Wisdom,  Tobit,  Judith,"  etc. 

But  much  more  important  Is  the  pronounce- 
ment of  the  famous  Jerome,  the  greatest  scholar 
and  critical  student  of  the  Roman  or  any  other 


158         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

church.  Pope  Damasus,  A.D.  383,  set  him  to  work 
at  revising  the  *'01d  Latin"  Bibles  of  which  we 
have  already  heard  (p.  155).  A  few  years  later 
he  began  a  more  important  work,  the  translation 
of  the  Old  Testament  direct  from  the  original 
Hebrew,  a  work  of  vital  import  to  the  whole 
Western  Church.  For  this  was  the  beginning  of 
the  great  Vulgate  Version,  the  Bible  of  Europe 
for  one  thousand  years.  Now  note  what  he  says 
in  his  preface — it  will  be  important  to  remember 
when  we  come  to  the  Council  of  Trent.  After 
mentioning  the  twenty-two  books  as  we  have  them 
to-day,  he  adds,  "whatever  is  beyond  these  must 
be  reckoned  as  Apocrypha.  Therefore,  the  books. 
Wisdom,  Judith,  etc.  .  .  .  are  not  in  the 
Canon,"  and  again,  "the  Church  reads  these  books 
for  the  edification  of  the  people,  not  for  the  au- 
thoritative confirmation  of  doctrine."  That  was 
surely  decisive  enough  in  the  leading  scholar  of 
the  Roman  Church. 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  feeling  on  the  part 
of  those  accustomed  to  the  popular  use.  But 
Jerome  was  a  stiff  fighter,  and  his  epistles  show 
how  sharply  he  could  hit  back.  Yet  in  spite  of 
himself  he  was  influenced  in  some  degree  by  the 
feeling  of  his  friends,  and  though  at  first  he  had 
refused  to  revise  any  but  the  Canonical  Books, 
he  was  prevailed  on  to  make  a  hurried  revision  of 


THE  APOCRYPHA  159 

Tobit  and  Judith  for  his  great  Bible.  As  the  years 
went  on,  when  the  old  fighter  was  long  in  his 
grave,  the  other  books  were  inserted  out  of  the 
Old  Latin  Bible.  Therefore  the  modern  Vulgate, 
in  spite  of  St.  Jerome's  opinion,  contains  the 
Apocrypha  mingled  with  the  other  books. 


§  4.  We  now  pass  over  one  thousand  years 
to  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  Reformation.  Of 
the  intervening  period  there  is  not  much  to  tell. 
Church  leaders  here  and  there  emphasized  St. 
Jerome's  distinction  between  the  books;  but  in 
popular  usage  it  was  largely  Ignored.  In  the 
Western  church  it  is  worth  noting  that  the  promi- 
nent Roman  theologian,  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  In 
the  thirteenth  century,  was  one  of  those  who  helped 
to  keep  the  Apocrypha  in  its  secondary  place. 
The  Eastern,  that  is  the  Greek  Church,  was  rather 
careless  and  Indefinite,  though  tending  mainly  to 
distinguish  between  the  books.  For  its  present 
position  Bishop  Westcott  ^  quotes  the  official  Rus- 
sian Church  catechism  which  separates  the 
Apocrypha  after  the  example  of  Athanaslus  as 
forming  a  useful  preparatory  study  to  the  Bible. 

But  we  are  mainly  concerned  with  the 
Roman  Church  and  the  famous  decision  of  the 

3  "Bible  in  the  Church,"  p.  229. 


160         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

Council  of  Trent  (1546),  the  vital  point  in  the 
story  of  the  Apocrypha.  Europe  was  convulsed 
in  the  throes  of  the  Reformation,  and  the  Coun- 
cil was  considering  the  whole  position.  On  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1546,  they  had  before  them  Lu- 
ther's article  affirming  that  only  the  Hebrew  Canon 
of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  acknowledged 
Books  of  the  New  Testament  ought  to  be  admit- 
ted as  authoritative.  This  was  discussed  at  four 
meetings.  It  was  not  an  easy  question.  Their 
best  theological  scholars,  Cardinal  Ximenes,  in 
his  magnificent  Polyglot  Bible,  and  Cardinal  Ca- 
jetan,  the  stern  opponent  of  Luther,  both  held 
to  the  position  put  forth  by  St.  Jerome.  But  popu- 
lar feeling  was  averse  to  that  pronouncement,  and 
some  of  the  popes  had  given  utterances  on  the 
other  side.  Perhaps  if  Luther  had  been  out  of  it 
things  would  have  been  different.  But  at  any  rate 
we  have  but  to  record  the  famous  decision  of  the 
Council  on  the  8th  of  April,  1546:  "The  holy 
Ecumenical  and  General  Council  of  Trent,  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  the  Orthodox  fathers,  ven- 
erates all  the  Books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments .  .  .  with  an  equal  feeling  of  devotion  and 
reverence."  Then  comes  the  list  of  the  Books, 
including  those  of  the  Apocrypha,  and  the  decree 
closes  with  an  anathema  on  all  who  in  future  shall 
not  receive  the  entire  books  as  equally  inspired 


THE  APOCRYPHA  161 

Scripture.  "This  fatal  decree/'  says  Bishop 
Westcott,  *'in  which  the  Council,  harassed  by  the 
fear  of  lay  critics  and  grammarians,  gave  a  new 
aspect  to  the  whole  question  of  the  Canon,  was 
ratified  by  fifty-three  prelates,  amongst  whom  there 
was  not  one  German,  not  one  scholar  distinguished 
for  historical  learning,  not  one  who  was  fitted  by 
special  study  of  the  subject  In  which  the  truth 
could  only  be  determined  by  the  voice  of  an- 
tiquity.'' 


§  5.  With  a  statement  of  the  Anglican  posi- 
tion this  sketch  of  the  Apocrypha  may  close.  It  is 
the  position  stated  so  definitely  by  St.  Jerome,  the 
position  in  the  main  of  the  great  leaders  all  down 
the  history  of  the  Universal  Church.  It  is  stated 
clearly  In  the  Sixth  Article — 

"In  the  name  of  Holy  Scripture  we  understand  these 
canonical  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  of  whose 
authority  was  never  any  doubt  in  the  Church — Genesis, 
Exodus,  etc.  (as  in  English  Bible),  and  the  other  books 
(as  Jerome  saith),  the  Church  doth  read  for  example 
of  life  and  instruction  of  manners,  but  yet  doth  it  not 
apply  them  to  establish  any  doctrine.  Such  are  the 
following:— The  Third  Book  of  Esdras,  The  Fourth 
Book  of  EsdraS,  The  Book  of  Tobias,  etc."  (here  follows 
the  list  of  Apocrypha,  as  we  have  inserted  here  (p.  ). 
"All  the  Books  of  the  New  Testament  as  they  are 
commonly  received  we  do  receive  and  account  them 
canonical." 


162         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

That  IS  to  say  the  Apocrypha  is  sanctioned  for 
Ecclesiastical  use,  but  not  as  a  rule  of  doctrine. 
On  certain  days  portions  of  it  are  read  in  the 
Church  lessons,  but  the  Church  does  not  apply  it 
to  establish  any  doctrine. 

In  all  her  versions  of  Holy  Scripture  from 
Tyndale  down  to  the  Authorized  Version,  the 
Apocrypha  is  printed  by  itself  as  an  appendix  to 
the  Old  Testament.  The  Bible  of  the  whole  Cath- 
olic Church  is  not  complete  without  it.  At  the 
Coronation  of  King  Edward  the  Bible  Society 
sent  a  magnificent  bound  Bible  as  a  Coronation 
gift,  and  it  had  to  be  returned,  as  it  was  without 
the  Apocrypha.  This  then  is  the  position  of  the 
Old  Testament  Apocrypha  in  the  English  Church, 
and  so  far  as  we  can  learn  in  the  Greek  Church, 
and  this  has  been  its  position  in  the  whole  Chris- 
tian Church  from  earliest  days,  a  subordinate  po- 
sition— Ecclesiastical,  not  Canonical — for  edifica- 
tion, not  for  doctrine. 

There  is  no  New  Testament  Apocrypha  in  the 
Bible,  which  seems  rather  anomalous.  The  New 
Testament  had  just  as  good  books  left  outside  its 
Canon  and  marked  Apocrypha,  but  they  have 
dropped  out  and  been  forgotten. 


PART  IV 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW 
TESTAMENT 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 

Where  the  story  of  the  Old  Testament  closes, 
the  story  of  the  New  Testament  begins.  They 
touch  at  the  centre-point  in  the  history  of  the 
world  when 


"in  the  fulness  of  time  god  sent  forth  his 


The  first  thing  that  strikes  one  in  the  Making 
of  the  New  Testament  is  that,  like  that  of  the 
Old,  it  was  unconscious,  unintentional.  When  we 
come  to  Apostolic  days  we  find  the  first  Christians 
with  their  complete  Holy  Bible  which  we  now  call 
the  Old  Testament.  And  to  one  who  really  thinks 
himself  into  their  position,  the  wonder  Is,  hu- 
manly speaking,  that  there  should  ever  have  come 
what  we  call  the  New  Testament.  For  these  early 
Christians  had  no  more  notion  of  making  a  new 
Bible  or  adding  to  the  old  one,  than  we  have  to- 
day.    They  had,  as  we  have,  the  Word  of  God, 

165 


166         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

believed  to  be  complete,  regarded  by  them  and 
quoted  by  Christ  and  His  Apostles  as  the  Bible 
of  Divine  authority.  They  wanted  no  other.  It 
would  have  seemed  to  them  sacrilegious  to  add  to 
it  even  if  they  thought  of  such  a  thing,  which  they 
did  not. 

The  curious  thing  though  is,  that  they  did  not 
want  (even  without  putting  it  into  a  Bible)  to 
write  at  once  for  their  own  use  a  full  life  of  Jesus. 
One  would  have  expected  that  the  first  thing  they 
would  do  after  Pentecost  would  be  to  go  to  the 
twelve  Apostles  and  ask  them,  Write  us  down  in 
a  book  at  once  everything  that  you  have  seen  and 
heard  and  learned  about  Jesus  during  those  won- 
derful three  years.  But  they  did  not.  Perhaps  it 
will  surprise  us  less  if  we  try  to  put  ourselves  in 
their  place. 


Take  the  first  twenty  years  after  the 
G  soel  Ascension  up  to  about  A.D.  50.  Here 
is  a  religious  community  scattered  In 
groups  through  many  cities  and  villages — simple 
plain  people,  fishers  and  farmers  and  porters  and 
tentmakers  and  artisans.  They  are  very  happy  in 
their  wonderful  new  religion.    One  thought  domi- 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  167 

nates  all  life  for  them:  *'We  know  that  the  Son 
of  God  is  come."  ^  They  want  to  hear  everything 
they  can  about  Him.  Most  of  them  cannot  read. 
Very  few  would  be  capable  of  writing  a  book. 
In  any  case  they  do  not  want  books.  In  Palestine, 
at  least,  they  have  a  strong  prejudice  against  com- 
mitting anything  to  writing.  Their  whole  train- 
ing has  been  oral.  Their  knowledge  of  things 
has  come  by  hearsay.  There  are  no  newspapers. 
When  there  is  any  news  somebody  tells  it.  Writ- 
ten books  or  read  books  (except  the  Bible)  are 
not  at  all  in  their  line. 

Also  it  is  hardly  worth  while  writing  books. 
Mingled  with  their  new  joy  is  a  restless  expect- 
ancy. They  are  convinced  that  Jesus  will  return 
during  their  lifetime  to  take  them  all  to  heaven. 
They  do  not  know  the  moment.  It  may  be  any 
day,  "at  evening  or  at  midnight  or  at  cockcrow,  or 
in  the  morning."  Even  their  Apostles  at  first 
looked  forward  to  the  day  when  *'we  which  are 
alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up  to  meet  the 
Lord  in  the  air."  ^  So,  with  heaven  lying  about 
them,  there  was  no  need  of  writing  books  for 
the  future.  There  was  no  future,  except  a  future 
in  glory  with  the  Lord. 


1 1  John  V.  20. 
2 1   Thess.   iv.   17. 


168         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

§  2.  So  they  gathered  in  their  little  weekly 
assemblies  to  hear  their  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
and  to  pray  and  to  receive  their  Holy  Communion 
and  to  listen  to  the  burning  words  of  the  "Wit- 
nesses" who  had  been  with  Jesus  or  seen  him  or 
learned  about  Him  from  those  who  had.  They 
wanted  not  written  documents,  but  heart  to  heart 
talks  from  men  who  knew.  Sometimes  they  had 
only  a  teacher  who  had  learned  from  the  Apostles. 
Sometimes  they  had  a  disciple  who  had  actually 
heard  the  Lord.  And  sometimes  they  would  get 
hold  of  a  real  live  Apostle,  one  of  the  Twelve. 
That  was  a  great  day,  when  Peter  or  James  or 
John  or  Philip  was  present  in  the  town.  Nobody 
would  stay  at  home  that  day.  Think  of  John  tell- 
ing how  he  had  stood  by  the  Cross  and  heard  the 
dying  words  of  the  Lord;  or  Peter  telling  of  that 
miserable  night  of  his  denial  when  the  Lord 
turned  and  looked  upon  him;  or  Philip  pictur- 
ing the  joy  and  enthusiasm  of  the  first  Easter 
morning. 

I  suppose  that  was  a  good  deal  what  was 
meant  by  "preaching  Christ,"  the  one  great  sub- 
ject of  all  their  preaching.  "Daily  in  the  temple 
and  in  every  house  they  ceased  not  to  teach  and 
preach  Jesus  Christ.^    At  Antioch  they  spoke  to 

3  Acts  V.  42. 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  169 

the  Grecians,  "preaching  the  Lord  Jesus,"  *  they 
"preached  Jesus  and  the  Resurrection."  ^  "We 
preach  not  ourselves,'*  says  Paul,  "but  Christ 
Jesus  the  Lord."  ®  They  could  not  always  be 
sketching  the  whole  scheme  of  redemption.  Much 
of  their  teaching  must  have  been  the  narrating 
of  separate  incidents  In  the  Lord's  life.  As  we 
shall  see  later,  Peter  is  said  to  have  "framed  his 
teaching  to  meet  the  immediate  wants,  but  not 
making  a  connected  narrative  of  our  Lord's  dis- 
courses" (p.  184). 

*  Now  it  is  a  matter  of  experience  that  if  any 
man  keeps  telling  the  same  incidents  for  many 
years  there  comes  naturally  a  certain  uniformity 
in  the  telling,  almost  as  fixed  as  writing.  And  if 
the  several  Apostles  were  continually  teaching  the 
life  of  Jesus  there  would  gradually  come  a  certain 
uniformity  in  the  cycle  of  teaching.  They  could 
not  dwell  on  every  little  point.  They  would  "put 
first  things  first."  Special  acts  and  discourses  of 
the  Lord  would  stand  out  in  higher  prominence. 
Other  incidents  of  minor  importance  would  fall 
into  the  background  and  be  dropped  out.  The  In- 
carnation, the  Baptism,  the  Passion,  the  Resur- 
rection, the  Ascension,  the  historic  substance  of 


*Acts  xi.  20. 
''Acts  xvii.  18. 
*2  Cor.  iv.  5. 


170         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

the  ancient  creeds,  would  be  the  great  centres 
around  which  the  teaching  grouped  itself.  Thus, 
in  course  of  years,  there  would  be  a  growingly 
uniform  cycle  of  facts  and  sayings  which  would 
be  the  main  Gospel  of  the  Church,  stored  in  the 
memories  of  the  hearers. 

Then  again  every  year  in  a  hundred  places 
together,  were  the  preparation  classes  for  Bap- 
tism. Converts  had  to  be  taught  in  regular  and 
compact  form  the  main  facts  of  the  Christian 
creed.  This  would  greatly  tend  towards  crystal- 
lizing the  oral  teaching  into  a  fairly  uniform  gos- 
pel known  well  by  all  instructed  Christians  all 
over  the  Church. 


§  3.  Thus  came  the  formation  of  an  oral 
GOSPEL  differing  somewhat  in  different  places  and 
periods,  but  in  the  main  the  same.  This  was  the 
^'deposit,'*  the  matter  "which  they  delivered, 
which  from  the  beginning  were  eyewitnesses  and 
ministers  of  the  Word."  This  was  what  Paul 
was  orally  taught  by  Ananias  at  Damascus  and  by 
others  more  fully  afterwards.  "I  delivered  unto 
you,"  he  says  to  the  Corinthians,  "that  which  I 
also  received,  how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins 
according  to  the  scriptures;  and  that  he  was 
bi*ried,  and  that  he  hath  been  raised  on  the  third 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  171 

Hay  according  to  the  scriptures."  ''  This  is  what 
he  means  when  he  bids  the  Thessalonians,  ''Hold 
fast  the  traditions  which  ye  have  received."  ^  This 
is  the  deposit  about  which  he  charges  Timothy, 
"O  Timothy,  guard  that  deposit  which  is  com- 
mitted unto  thee."  ® 

This  was  the  oral  gospel  published  through 
the  whole  church,  not  In  written  books,  "but  on 
the  fleshly  tablets  of  the  heart."  Probably  our 
present  gospel  of  St.  Mark  would  fairly  represent 
its  main  substance.  Mark,  as  we  shall  see  later, 
is  said  to  have  learned  it  from  the  "lessons"  or 
oral  Instructions  of  Peter.  At  any  rate  this  oral 
deposit  was  the  only  Gospel  the  Church  had  for 
thirty  years.  So  far  as  we  can  judge  neither  Paul 
nor  Peter,  nor  perhaps  any  of  the  apostles  except 
John,  ever  saw  one  of  our  written  gospels.  They 
certainly  give  no  Indication  of  It.  If  Paul  knew 
of  written  gospels  he  would  hardly  have  exhorted 
the  Thessalonians  to  hold  fast  the  oral  traditions 
or  deliver  to  the  Corinthians  only  that  which  he 
had  orally  received. 


7  1  Cor.  XV.  3,  4. 
*  2  Thess.  ii.  15. 
9  I  Tim.  vi.  20. 


172         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

n 

Now  we  come  to  the  next  stage — 

The  .     .  • 

Epistles  *^^  Stage  of  the  first  Christian  writ- 
ings, the  Epistles — beginning,  say, 
about  the  year  50  a.d.  These  were  the  first 
written  part  of  the  New  Testament. 

The  various  needs  and  perplexities  of  the 
scattered  churches  called  forth  letters  of  advice 
and  direction  and  instruction,  written  mainly  for 
the  Immediate  occasion  and  In  answer  to  letters 
of  inquiry  received.  There  was  no  thought  of 
them  as  Bible  or  Scripture  or  Sacred.  They  were 
simply  letters  of  the  great  missionary  Apostles  to 
the  communities  which  they  had  visited  and  evan- 
gelized. 

I  picture  to  myself  the  writing  of  the  first 
Christian  Scripture.  It  Is  a.d.  48.  A  wiry  little 
man  with  weak  eyes  is  seated  in  a  room  working 
at  pieces  of  black  haircloth  material  for  tents.  He 
has  his  work  to  do  and  perhaps  he  can  think  bet- 
ter that  way,  as  a  woman  can  think  better  with  her 
knitting  In  her  hands.  He  Is  dictating  a  letter 
while  he  works.  Busy  people  then,  as  now,  dic- 
tated when  they  could  instead  of  writing,  and 
probably  Paul's  weak  eyes  would  make  It  more 
necessary  for  him.    At  any  rate  we  know  it  was  his 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  173 

custom,  and  it  has  been  suggested  that  perhaps 
his  vividness  and  directness  of  language,  his 
broken  constructions  and  sudden  changes  of  sub- 
ject, may  be  in  some  measure  the  result  of  it. 

Two  young  men  are  with  him — Timothy  and 
Silvanus.  Silvanus  can  probably  write  best,  as 
we  find  indications  afterwards  that  he  wrote  for 
Peter.^  Probably  it  is  he  who  is  writing  now  for 
Paul,  with  a  roll  of  papyrus  before  him  about 
three  feet  long  made  from  the  pith  of  papyrus 
reeds  pasted  together.  Parchment  was  not  used 
for  letters  and  in  any  case  would  be  too  dear  for 
poor  people.  But  he  could  buy  papyrus  in  the 
shops,  as  we  buy  foolscap,  from  six  to  eighteen 
inches  wide  and  of  any  length  required.  We  can 
judge  the  sizes  by  the  papyri  that  have  been  dis- 
covered. 

So  Paul  is  dictating  and  Silvanus  Is  writing  on 
the  papyrus  roll  in  little  columns  two  or  three 
inches  wide : — 


TAUL  AND  SILVANUS  AND  TIMOTHY  UNTO  THE  CHURCH  OF 
THE  THESSALONIANS  IN  GOD  THE  FATHER  AND  THE  LORD 
JESUS  CHRIST.      GRACE  TO  YOU  AND  PEACE." 


How  little  those  two  men  thought  that  day  that 
they  were  writing  the  first  words  of  the  great 


174        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

Christian  Scriptures  for  all  the  world  and  for  all 
the  ages.  We  do  not  know  that  this  was  the  first 
church  letter  that  Paul  wrote.  Some  have  been 
lost.    But  this  is  the  first  that  we  know  of. 


§  2.  A.D.  54.  Again  Paul  is  dictating  a  let- 
ter, a  much  larger  and  more  formidable  one.  It 
is  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  This  time  I  do  not 
imagine  he  has  any  tentwork  in  his  hands,  for  he 
has  to  concentrate  hard.  And  this  time  we  have 
not  to  guess  at  his  secretary's  name,  for  it  is 
signed,  *'I,  Tertius,  who  write  the  epistle,  salute 
you  in  the  Lord."  ^  We  can  even  make  a  guess  at 
the  messenger  who  carried  it.  "I  commend  to 
you  Phoebe  our  sister,  a  deaconess  of  the  church 
at  Cenchrea  that  ye  receive  her  in  the  Lord  and 
help  her  in  whatever  matter  she  needs."  ^  Ap- 
parently Phoebe  was  travelling  to  Rome  along  the 
great  Roman  roads  or  by  the  vessels  of  one  of 
the  shipping  companies  navigating  the  Mediter- 
ranean.   Who  more  likely  to  carry  the  letter? 

Thus  the  epistle  reached  Rome  and  surely  it 
was  eagerly  read  next  Sunday,  and  probably  for 
several  Sundays.  Not  in  the  place  of  Holy  Scrip- 
tures.   Certainly  not.    That  position  did  not  come 

2  Ch.  xvi.  22. 

5  Ch.  xyi,  X,  ,,: 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  175 

to  It  until  many  years  later.  But  rather  as  a  dis- 
course or  sermon  written  by  their  great  missloner. 
Probably  they  would  find  It  a  much  stiffer  sermon 
than  the  simple  gospel  narratives  which  they  were 
accustomed  to  hear  as  sermons.  Perhaps  It  was 
one  of  the  audience  that  day  who  tells  us  later  that 
''in  the  epistles  of  our  beloved  brother  Paul  are 
some  things  hard  to  be  understood."  * 

And  when  they  had  read  it  repeatedly  they 
would  lend  It  to  another  church  (cf.  Col.  Iv.  i6). 
But  It  had  to  be  handled  carefully;  for  If  the  papy- 
rus got  damp  It  moulded  and  spoiled  the  writing 
and  If  too  dry  It  grew  brittle  and  easily  broke  in 
handling.  Then  trouble  came,  as  we  shall  find  later, 
in  St.  Mark's  Gospel,  where  It  Is  likely  the  end 
piece  cracked  off  and  got  lost  and  so  caused  trou^ 
ble  and  manifold  discussions  In  many  ages  since. 
In  later  times  when  the  position  of  the  Epistles 
was  recognized  as  Scripture  they  were  carefully 
copied  on  to  parchment  like  the  Old  Testament. 
But  they  probably  remained  a  good  while  on  papy- 
rus, and  papyrus  was  a  perilous  material  on  which 
to  preserve  for  the  world  the  Inspired  Word  of 
God. 

§  3.  We  have  thirteen  epistles  of  St.  Paul.  A 
third  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  which  he  refers 

*  See  2  Pet.  iii.  16,  whose  author  Is  not  certainly  known. 


176         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

to  ^  has  evidently  got  lost  and  possibly  others. 
We  have  three  epistles  of  St.  John,  one  of  James, 
one  of  Jude,  a  first  epistle  of  Peter  and  another 
called  his  Second  Epistle  whose  authorship  is 
doubtful.  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  anony- 
mous. It  has  been  widely  attributed  to  Paul, 
sometimes  to  Barnabas  and  others.  Origen,  the 
greatest  Bible  scholar  the  world  has  seen,  said  of 
It  In  the  third  century,  "Who  wrote  this  epistle 
God  only  knows." 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  and  instructive  too,  as 
to  the  Intercourse  between  churches  and  the  grad- 
ual growth  of  the  Canon  of  Scripture  that  St. 
Paul's  were  not  the  only  Epistles  to  the  Corin- 
thians, Epheslans,  Philippians,  etc.  Towards  the 
close  of  St.  John's  life  Clement  of  Rome  wrote  his 
famous  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  of  which  we  get 
a  glimpse  again  centuries  later  in  a  letter  from  the 
Corinthian  Bishop  Dionysius.  *'We  have  been 
reading  In  church  to-day  Clement's  Epistle.'* 
About  the  same  period  Ignatius  of  Antioch  on  his 
way  to  martyrdom  wrote  epistles  to  the  churches 
which  he  loved,  and  amongst  them  the  Epheslans. 
Polycarp,  the  disciple  of  St.  John,  wrote  an  Epis- 
tle to  the  Philippians,  and  at  Its  close  (Ch.  xlli.) 
he  says,  *'I  have  received  epistles  from  you  and 
from  Ignatius.     You  recommend  me  to  send  on 

5  I  Cor.  V.  9. 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  177 

yours  to  Syria ;  I  shall  do  so  either  personally  or 
otherwise.  In  return  I  send  you  the  letter  of 
Ignatius  as  well  as  others  which  you  ask 
for.  .  .  .  They  will  serve  to  edify  your  faith 
and  perseverance." 

These  writers  themselves,  and  doubtless  the 
church  too,  made  a  distinction  between  their  letters 
and  those  of  the  Apostles.  But  it  was  not  the 
sharp  distinction  of  later  days  between  Scripture 
and  non-Scripture. 


Ill 


Thus   the   Epistles  were  written. 
The         'pj^jg  brings  us  to  about  6$  A.D.,  thirty 
Gospels,     years  after  the  Ascension.    Not  one  of 
our   Gospels    was   yet   written.     The 
larger  churches  had  probably  a  collection  of  some 
Apostolic  Epistles.     These  were  the  only  docu- 
ments. 

But  things  could  not  go  on  thus  much  longer. 
Paul  was  dead.  The  men  who  had  known  Jesus 
were  rapidly  passing  away.  And  all  the  time  the 
Church  was  steadily  growing  in  extent  and  need- 
ing to  be  told  the  Christian  story.  In  the  mis- 
sionary churches  amongst  the  heathen,  where 
"they  ordained  elders  in  every  city,"  there  must 


178         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

be  some  authoritative  documents  for  teachers  tG 
use  who  knew  nothing  at  first  hand  of  the  Lord's 
life.  Besides,  it  would  hardly  be  safe  to  leave  the 
story  much  longer  trusting  to  memory.  For  these 
were  not  quiet  isolated  people  like  the  ancient 
Jews  with  their  traditions.  The  Church  lived 
In  the  midst  of  bustling  life  and  crowding  events, 
a  condition  not  favourable  to  long  oral  transmis- 
sion. 

So,  just  when  Paul's  Epistles  and  Paul's  life 
were  closing,  begins  the  writing  of  our  first  three 
Gospels.  Paul  died  about  the  year  64.  The 
writing  of  our  first  Gospel  is  usually  dated  about 

65.' 


§  2.  The  Oral  Gospel  had  now  become  fairly 
fixed  in  men's  memories.  And  scraps  of  writing 
were  floating  about.  Some  one  here  and  there 
would  write  on  a  papyrus  slip  some  saying  of  the 
Lord  which  especially  touched  him : — 

Jesus  said.  Come  unto  me  all  ye  vi^eary 

AND  I  V^ILL  give  YOU  REST. 

Jesus  said,  A  certain  man  had  two 
SONS,  ETC.    (Prodigal  Son). 

^Harnack  (a  famous  present-day  investigator)  has  recently 
argued  for  an  earlier  date.  He  would  put  Mark  between  50  and 
60,  Matthew  about  70,  and  Luke  in  Paul's  lifetime. 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  179 

Jesus  said,  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart 

TOR  they  shall   SEE   GOD.      BlESSED   ARE   THE 
l^EACEMAKERS. 

Amongst  them  was  probably  one  which  St. 
Paul  had  been  taught,  but  which  did  not  get  Into 
our  Gospels. 

Jesus  said,  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than 
to  receive.^ 

And  I  like  to  think  that  In  this  form  too  came 
down  that  pathetic  little  story  of  Jesus  and  the 
Adulteress,  which  also  was  left  out  of  the  Gospels, 
but  which  appeals  to  every  heart  as  a  true  story 
of  Jesus.  Some  disciple  who  had  heard  it  told  In 
the  oral  teaching  perhaps,  wrote  it  down  on  a 
papyrus  tablet.  We  hear  that  it  was  written  into 
the  lost  "Gospel  to  the  Hebrews."  At  any  rate, 
some  one  who  knew  It  wrote  it  later  on  In  a  blank 
space  In  some  copy  of  the  Gospel  manuscripts 
and  it  so  appealed  to  men's  hearts  that  a  place 
had  to  be  made  for  It.  The  Revised  Version  Indi- 
cates Its  unauthorized  insertion  Into  the  middle  of 
St.  John's  Gospel.  ^  It  evidently  does  not  belong 
there,  but  wherever  its  true  place,  the  world  has 
reason  to  be  thankful  to  the  man  who  wrote  on  his 
papyrus  tablet  long  ago  this  lost  story  of  Jesus. 

Many  of  these  little  "Logia"  or  Sayings  have 

2  Acts  XX.  35. 

3  St.  John  viii.  3. 


180         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

recently  been  found  in  the  East,  some  belonging  to 
very  early  times,  though  not  to  the  first  century. 
Most  of  those  found  are  already  In  the  Bible. 
Some  day  we  may  light  on  a  valuable  collection 
in  sealed  jars  or  In  tombs  which  will  restore  to  us 
precious  lost  sayings  of  Jesus.  The  most  Inter- 
esting find  up  to  this  is  that  of  the  Oxyrinchus 
Papyri,  found  by  Dr.  Grenfell  and  Dr.  Hunt  at 
Oxyrinchus  In  Egypt  in  1897  and  1903,  now  in 
the  British  Museum.  They  seem  to  preserve  some 
lost  sayings  of  Jesus  which  floated  about  in  early 
evangelical  tradition,  but  did  not  get  Into  our  Gos- 
pels. Quite  an  excitement  was  caused  in  1903 
at  the  discovery  of  the  five  sayings  written  on  the 
back  of  a  land  surveyor's  list  of  measurements 
and  prefaced  by  the  introduction,  *'These  are  the 
wonderful  sayings  of  Jesus." 

Jesus  saith,  let  not  him  who 

SEEKS  cease  until  HE  FIND,  AND 
WHEN  HE  FINDS  HE  SHALL  BE  ASTON- 
ISHED; ASTONISHED,  HE  SHALL  REACH 
THE  KINGDOM,  AND  HAVING  REACHED 
THE  KINGDOM  HE  SHALL  REST. 

Jesus  saith  . . .  and  the  kingdom 
OF  heaven  is  within  you,  and  who- 
soever SHALL  KNOW  HIMSELF  SHALL 
FIND  IT  (strive  THEREFORE)  TO  KNOW 


Xew   "Sayixgs  of  Jesus.  ' 

Papyrus  from  Oxyrhynchus,  now  in  the  British 

Museum.       By     permission     of     the     Egyptian 

Exploration  Fund. 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  181 


YOURSELVES  AND  YE  SHALL  KNOW  THAT 
YE  ARE  THE  SONS  OF  THE  FATHER,  AND 
YE  SHALL  KNOW  THAT  YE  ARE  IN  THE 
CITY  OF  GOD  AND  YE  ARE  THE  CITY.  * 


§  3.  Probably  there  were  little  collections  of 
these  "sayings"  which  helped  the  writers  of  the 
Gospels.  We  know  of  one  large  collection  at- 
tributed to  St.  Matthew,  of  which  we  shall  hear 
more  later. 

By  and  by  would  come  something  fuller — little 
Gospels,  little  attempts  of  private  Christians,  to 
write  down  what  they  had  been  learning  in  church. 

St.  Luke's  preface  gives  us  a  valuable  glimpse 
of  the  position  when  he  wrote.  I  quote  from  the 
Revised  Version : — 

1.  Even  as  they  delivered  them  unto  us,  which 
The  Oral  from  the  beginning  were  eye-witnesses  and 
Gospel.  ministers  of  the  Word. 

2.  Forasmuch  as  many  have  taken  in  hand  to 
The  Frag-  draw  up  a  narrative  concerning  those  matters 
mentary  fully  established  among  us. 

Gospels. 

3.  It  seemed  good  to  me  also  having  traced  the 
The  Final  course  of  all  things  from  the  very  first  to  write 
Gospels.  unto  thee  in  order,  most  excellent  Theophilus, 

that  thou  mightest  know  the  certainty  con- 
cerning the  things  wherein  thou  wast  instructed 
by  word  of  mouth. 

4  "Sayings  of  Our  Lord,"  2s.,  and  "New  Sayings  of  Jesus," 
IS.,  published  by  Oxford  University  Press. 


182         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

Here  we  see  the  evolution  of  the  first  three 
Gospels:  (i)  the  Oral  Gospel;  (2)  the  Frag- 
mentary Gospels;  (3)  the  Final  Gospels  as  we 
have  them.  St.  Luke  sets  himself  to  write  in  order 
the  separate  narratives  which  people  were  familiar 
with.  Is  it  not  very  like  the  evolution  In  the  Old 
Testament — the  oral  traditions  followed  by  collec- 
tions such  as  the  Book  of  Jasher,  and  then  by  still 
fuller  histories  J.  and  E.  and  P.,  and  all  moving  to- 
ward the  complete  Books  as  we  have  them  to-day? 


§  4.  The  first  definite  mention  of  our  present 
Gospels  Is  a  very  interesting  one.  Shortly  after 
the  death  of  St.  John  (about  120  a.d.)  there 
was  a  bishop  named  Paplas,  bishop  of  HIerapolis, 
in  Phrygia.  He  lived  close  to  apostolic  days.  He 
had  met  in  HIerapolis  the  daughters  of  Philip  the 
Evangelist,  the  virgins  which  did  prophesy,  who 
were  friends  of  St.  Paul.^  Amongst  his  friends 
were  Polycarp  the  disciple  of  St.  John,  and  others 
who  were  acquaintances  of  the  Twelve.  (Irenaeus 
say  that  Paplas  himself  was  a  disciple  of  St. 
John.)  He  was  very  eager  to  learn  everything 
they  could  tell  him  that  the  Apostles  had  said 
about  Jesus.  "For,"  he  says,  "I  did  not  take 
pleasure  as  most  people  do  in  those  who  say  a 

5  Acts  XXI.  9. 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  183 

great  deal,  but  In  those  that  teach  true  things. 
I  used  to  Inquire  what  were  the  declarations  of 
the  elders,  what  Andrew  or  what  Peter  said,  or 
what  Philip  or  what  Thomas  or  James,  or  what 
John  or  Matthew  or  what  any  other  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  the  Lord — and  the  things  which  Arls- 
tlon  and  the  elder  (or  presbyter)  John  the  dis- 
ciple of  the  Lord  say.  For  I  did  not  expect  so 
much  benefit  from  the  contents  of  books  as  from 
the  utterances  of  a  living  and  abiding  voice." 

In  view  of  what  follows  it  is  a  very  Interest- 
ing question,  who  Is  meant  by  the  "elder"  John. 
Paplas  speaks  of  the  Apostles  as  "the  elders," 
but  why  does  he  mention  again  an  elder  John? 
Is  it  another  John,  a  presbyter  or  elder,  or  is  It 
the  Apostle  already  spoken  of  as  an  "elder"?® 
If  the  latter,  as  many  scholars  think,  the  following 
words  should  have  great  weight : — 

"John  the  Elder  told  Paplas  that  Matthew 
wrote  the  "Logia,"  i.e.  the  Words  or  Sayings  of 
Jesus  in  Hebrew  (i.e.  Aramaic,  the  vernacular 
of  Palestine).  "And  this  too  the  Elder  said, 
'Mark,  the  interpreter  of  Peter,  wrote  down  ac- 
curately, yet  not  in  order  all  that  he  (Peter)  told 
as  said  or  done  by  Christ.  For  he  (Mark)  him- 
self did  not  hear  the  Lord  nor  was  a  disciple  of 
his,  but  ...  of  Peter,  who  used  to  give  teachings 

«Cf.  Salmon  Introd.,  90,  279. 


184        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

to  suit  the  immediate  wants  (of  his  hearers),  but 
not  as  making  a  connected  narrative  ...  so  that 
Mark  made  no  mistake.  .  .  .  For  he  took  care  of 
one  thing,  not  to  leave  out  anything  he  heard 
nor  give  anything  in  a  wrong  way.'  "  ^ 

§  5.  From  this  we  gather  that  St.  Matthew 
made  a  collection  of  discourses  of  Our  Lord  in 
Aramaic.  No  copy  of  this  has  yet  been  found.  If 
ever  it  is,  it  will  upset  or  confirm  many  theories 
made  about  it.  It  certainly  was  not  our  present 
Gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  though  it  probably 
formed  the  chief  source  for  it. 

The  first  Gospel  was  certainly  St.  Mark.  Its 
basis  apparently  was  the  oral  Gospel  which  he 
had  learned  in  church  on  Sundays,  especially  the 
form  in  which  he  had  heard  Peter  tell  it.  Where 
Mark  wrote  it,  and  why,  and  for  what  church,  we 
do  not  know.  But  one  thing  we  do  know,  that 
it  meant  more  to  the  world  than  almost  any  other 
book  written.  For,  as  we  shall  see,  it  was  also 
the  chief  source  and  foundation  of  the  Gospels 
of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke.  Just  a  single  roll 
of  papyrus  about  twenty  feet  long  easily  injured  in 
handling.  The  church  which  first  got  it  had  to 
be  very  careful  not  to  break  it,  and  in  spite  of  all 
their  care  they  apparently  did  break  it — broke 

1  Eusebius.  Eccl.  Hist.  iii.  39. 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  183 

off  a  piece  perhaps  twelve  inches  long,  which 
caused  a  good  deal  of  trouble  in  later  days.  The 
Revised  Version  shows  us  how  in  the  sixteenth 
chapter  the  Resurrection  story  breaks  off  awk- 
wardly and  abruptly  at  verse  8,  and  that  an  end- 
ing of  twelve  verses  is  added  which  quite  prob- 
ably does  not  belong  there  at  all.  The  marginal 
note  tells  us  that  the  oldest  manuscripts  omit  this 
ending,  and  that  different  endings  have  been  ap- 
pended in  several  manuscripts.  Evidently  the 
reader  who  clumsily  cracked  off  that  piece  is  re- 
sponsible for  some  confusion. 


§  6.  Soon  after  St.  Mark,  appeared  our  First 
Gospel,  called  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  prob- 
ably because  it  was  based  largely  on  St.  Matthew's 
collection  of  Discourses.  Whether  St.  Matthew 
wrote  it,  or  who  wrote  it  in  its  present  form  no- 
body really  knows. 

And  very  soon  after  came  the  Gospel  of  St. 
Luke,  which  he  wrote  with  the  Acts  for  some  one 
called  Theophilus.  It  does  not  seem  very  prob- 
able that  two  so  great  and  valuable  books  so 
urgently  needed  by  the  whole  Church  should  have 
been  written  for  one  private  individual.  The 
name  Theophilus,  Lover  of  God,  or  Beloved  by 
God,  may  quite  possibly  be  intended  to  mean  any 


186         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

disciple.  "The  former  treatise  have  I  made,  O 
Disciple,  O  Lover  of  God." 

A  careful  study  of  these  three  Gospels  brings 
out  some  curious  facts  as  to  their  sources  and  com- 
position. Matthew  and  Luke  are  the  only  Gos- 
pels that  tell  anything  of  the  life  of  Jesus  before 
his  ministry  began.  There  they  write  quite  inde- 
pendently of  each  other,  scarcely  touching  in  any 
point. 

The  moment  they  begin  the  story  of  the  Min- 
istry they  tell  it  in  the  same  way,  following  mainly 
the  order  and  frequently  the  very  words  of  St. 
Mark. 

Then  when  Mark  comes  to  an  end  where  the 
papyrus  broke  off  at  Ch.  xvi.  8,  they  immediately 
branch  out  again,  independently  of  each  other  and 
relating  quite  different  incidents. 

Volumes  have  been  written  on  the  difficult 
"synoptic  problem,"  as  It  is  called  of  the  com- 
position of  these  synoptic  Gospels.  It  is  on  the 
whole  fairly  evident  that  both  used  St.  Mark,  or 
an  earlier  version^  of  St.  Mark,  as  a  basis;  that 
they  had  access  to  other  sources,  the  chief  prob- 
ably being  St.  Matthew's  collection  of  Sayings. 
But  where  did  Luke  get  that  Immortal  story  of 
the  "Shepherds  abiding  in  the  field,"  or  those 
precious  parables  in  Ch.  xv.,  that  "Gospel  within 
^  Dr.  Sanday  would  say  a  later  version. 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  187 

the  Gospel,"  or  the  many  things  in  Ch.  ix.-xviii. 
which  seem  to  suggest  a  source  known  only  to 
him.  The  early  Church  as  it  attributed  St. 
Mark's  teaching  to  Peter,  attributed  St.  Luke's 
teaching  to  Paul.  Perhaps  some  of  these  things 
were  in  St.  Paul's  oral  Gospel.  Perhaps  the 
earlier  documents  referred  to  in  St.  Luke's  preface 
contained  much  to  help  him.  The  whole  subject 
is  still  under  discussion,  though  one  doubts  if  the 
discussions  will  lead  us  much  further. 


§  7.  Twenty-five  years  later  comes  the  great 
Fourth  Gospel,  the  Gospel  of  John.  It  differs 
materially  from  the  other  three.  They  were  com- 
pilations made  up  of  earlier  existing  material. 
This  is  an  original  work  "dominated  throughout 
by  a  great  personality  who  has  so  meditated  on 
the  facts  and  truths  he  announces  that  they  have 
been  as  it  were  recast  in  his  own  experience  and 
bear  traces  everywhere  of  his  genius." 

St.  John  was  at  that  time  an  old  man,  living 
far  away  from  the  scenes  of  his  boyhood.  The 
young  peasant  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee  is  now  the 
beloved  bishop  of  the  Church  of  Ephesus.  But  he 
is  still  in  heart  just  *'the  disciple  whom  Jesus 
loved."  The  old  man's  eyes  are  ever  turning 
back  to  that  time,  those  three  wonderful  years 


188        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

when  he  had  walked  the  fields  of  Galilee  with  his 
dear  Lord,  when,  as  he  says,  "we  beheld  His 
glory,  the  glory  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father, 
full  of  grace  and  truth."^  James,  and  Peter  and 
Andrew  and  Philip  are  long  since  departed  to  be 
with  their  Master  in  the  Unseen,  and  he  Is  left 
alone  brooding,  as  an  old  man  will,  on  the  precious 
memories  of  the  past. 


"I'm  growing  very  old.    This  weary  head 
That  hath  so  often  leaned  on  Jesus'  breast 
In  days  long  by  that  seem  almost  a  dream, 
Is  bent  and  hoary  with  the  weight  of  years. 
I'm  old,  so  old,  I  cannot  recollect 
The  faces  that  I  meet  in  daily  life, 
But  that  dear  Face  and  every  word  He  spake 
Grow  more  distinct  as  others  fade  away, 
So  that  I  live  with  Him  and  the  holy  dead 
More  than  the  living." 


'  §  8.  And  how  his  people  at  Ephesus  loved 
to  hear  the  old  man's  memories  of  those  years  I 
They  had  probably  at  least  one  or  more  of  the 
other  three  Gospels  in  writing.  But  it  was  so 
different  to  hear  the  living  voice  of  their  dear  old 
bishop  telling  what  he  remembered.  And  he  re- 
membered so  many  things  not  written  in  their 
Gospels — his  first  meeting  with  Jesus;  the  mar- 
riage at  Cana;  the  mysterious  sacramental  teach- 
ing about  the  Bread  of  God  which  cometh  down 


THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  189 

from  Heaven;  the  solemn  Last  Discourse  at  the 
First  Communion;  the  story  of  the  awful  desola- 
tion when  he  saw  Jesus  dead;  his  personal  mem- 
ories of  the  Resurrection  joy,  especially  of  that 
exciting  race  for  the  tomb  when  he  did  outrun 
Peter;  also  his  tender  memories  of  the  strange 
forty  days  which  followed. 

Year  after  year  he  had  been  telling  them  what 
he  knew,  and  as  he  told  it  repeatedly  the  story 
grew  into  shape,  and  so  there  came  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John — the  Gospel  of  an  old  man's  memories. 
He  wrote  it  with  the  solemn  purpose  in  his  heart 
that  "ye  may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God;  and  that  believing  ye  may  have  life 
in  His  name."  ^ 

Probably  it  took  years  to  write  it.  An  old 
Church  legend  tells  that  in  its  final  form  a  disciple 
of  his,  Prochorus,  acted  as  his  scribe,  and  several 
old  manuscripts  of  this  gospel  have  a  picture  of 
St.  John  raising  his  left  hand  towards  the  inspir- 
ing rays  from  Heaven  and  resting  his  right  hand 
on  the  head  of  Prochorus,  who  is  writing,  *'In 
the  beginning  was  the  Word." 

Bishop  Lightfoot  suggests  that  the  First  Epis- 
tle of  St.  John's  was  written  as  a  kind  of  covering 
letter  In  committing  this  Gospel  to  the  Church, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  Gospel  is  an  interesting  au- 
<  St.  John  XX.  ax< 


190        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

thentication  written  perhaps  by  his  own  Church 
in  Ephesus,  *^This  is  the  disciple  that  testifieth 
of  these  things  and  wrote  these  things  and  we 
know  that  his  testimony  is  true."  ^ 

So  we  close  the  touching  story  of  that  wonder- 
ful first  century,  taking  us  back  to  watch  the  be- 
ginnings of  the  Gospel,  to  live  with  those  earnest 
simple-hearted  men  whose  one  central  feeling  was 
tender  grateful  personal  love  to  Jesus.  "Tell  us 
about  Jesus.  Tell  us  what  He  said  and  did,  how 
he  looked  and  spake — our  dear  Lord  who  loved 
us  and  died  for  us." 

May  God  the  Holy  Spirit  touch  our  poor  dull 
hearts  and  teach  even  to  us  also  that  personal 
love  to  Jesus! 

*  St.  John  xxi.  24. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 

I 

In  the  making  of  the  Old  Testament 
How  the      ^^g  g^^  £j.g^  |.j^g  importance  of  the  Di- 
Canon   was      .      -  .        ,     -r^-    •      i  •  i    i 

Formed,      vmely  appomted,  Divmely  guided  re- 
ligious     community,      the      Church, 
wherein,   as  In  a  cherishing  home  or  nest,  the 
Bible  was  to  grow. 

Then  we  saw  that  there  were  two  stages  of 
the  making  of  the  Bible  in  that  community,  which 
two  stages  must  be  carefully  distinguished. 

First,  the  gradual  growth  of  a  religious  liter- 
ature. 

Second,  the  gradual  selection  or  acceptance  or 
recognition  of  certain  parts  of  that  literature  by 
the  Church  as  authoritative  Inspired  Scripture. 

This  Is  true  of  the  New  Testament,  equally 
with  the  Old,  except  that  the  process  In  the  New 
Testament  occupied  but  one  generation,  while  in 
the  Old  it  extended  over  nearly  2000  years. 

191 


192         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

§  2.  We  have  watched  now  the  first  stage, 
the  growth  of  the  Christian  literature — the  Epis- 
tles being  written  according  as  they  were  needed — 
the  Gospels  growing  gradually  like  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Books,  oral  tradition  followed  by  frag- 
mentary written  summaries  and  completed  by  the 
writing  of  our  present  Four  Gospels. 

The  Church  then,  about  the  year  loo,  had 
first  and  foremost  its  holy  bible,  the  authorita- 
tive inspired  Books  of  the  Old  Testament.  This 
was  the  sole  "Canon  of  Scripture"  in  Apostolic 
days. 

And  It  had  also  its  religious  literature, 
the  Gospels,  the  Epistles,  the  Revelation  of  St. 
John,  and  also  other  religious  books  which  ulti- 
mately found  no  place  in  Scripture.  This  litera- 
ture was  highly  treasured  and  regarded  as  most 
valuable  for  edification,  but  certainly  was  not  re- 
garded as  *'Bible."  Be  it  repeated  again  and 
carefully  remembered,  that  to  the  first  Christians, 
who  were  mainly  Jews,  the  Holy  Scriptures  only 
meant  the  Old  Testament  Books.  The  name 
^'Scripture"  and  the  formula  of  quotation,  "It  is 
written,"  when  used  in  the  New  Testament  al- 
ways refer  to  the  Old  Testament  Books.  They 
were  the  inspired  Books,  the  prophecies  of  the 
coming  of  Christ,  and  with  the  imprimatur  of 
Christ  and  the  Apostles  upon  them  as  the  authori- 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  193 

tative  Word  of  God.  The  Christians  of  Apos- 
tolic days  regarded  these  as  their  Bible,  and  had 
no  intention  of  making  any  new  Bible  or  adding 
anything  to  the  old  one. 

The  Christian  literature  was  regarded  as  the 
human  teaching  of  apostles  and  disciples,  and  was 
valued  by  them  because  of  all  it  could  tell  about 
the  ministry  and  life  and  death  and  Resurrection 
of  that  dear  Lord  whom  they  so  deeply  loved. 


§  3.  Now  we  come  to  the  second  stage,  the 
admission  of  the  main  part  of  this  Christian  liter- 
ature into  the  Canon  of  Holy  Scripture. 

How  did  it  come  about?  Practically  in  the 
same  way  as  that  of  the  Old  Testament  Books. 
Let  me  repeat  what  I  said  of  them,  that  the  Canon 
of  Scripture  was  formed  not  suddenly  by  some 
startling  miracle,  not  officially  by  some  decision 
of  Council  or  Synod  or  Bishop  or  Prophet  or 
Saint,  but  slowly,  gradually,  half  unconsciously 
by  the  quiet  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the 
minds  of  men  in  the  Church.  'The  Bible  was 
formed  even  as  the  Church  itself  was  formed,  by 
that  Holy  Spirit  which  was  the  life  of  both.'  But 
the  mode  of  His  working  was  by  the  quickening 
and  guiding  of  human  souls  that  they  should  in- 
stinctively love  what  was  highest,  that  by  a  divine 


194         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

impulse  they  should  gradually  arrive  at  a  general 
recognition  of  certain  writings  as  authoritative 
and  inspired  Scripture. 

As  it  was  in  the  Old  Testament,  so  was  it  also 
in  the  New.  Humanly  speaking,  the  matter  was 
decided  half  unconsciously  by  usage  rather  than 
by  criticism  or  deliberate  choice.  Men  in  the 
Christian  Church  did  not  start  out  to  make  a  new 
Bible  or  to  add  to  the  old  one,  but,  almost  before 
they  knew,  they  had  done  it. 


§  4.  It  came  about  mainly  through  the  read- 
ing OF  THE  Lessons  in  Church.  The  question 
about  any  book  was  not  whether  it  should  be  put 
into  a  Bible — that  was  not  thought  of  at  first — but 
whether  it  was  worthy  to  be  read  in  the  Church 
services.  We  shall  come  later  on  a  picture  of 
these  early  Church  services.    They  consisted  of — 

( 1 )  Prayer,  extempore  or  liturgical,  with  the 
Lord's  Prayer  as  centre. 

(2)  Divine  teaching,  ue,  reading  of  the  Old 
Testament. 

(3)  Human  teaching — the  preaching  or  ex- 
position or  the  oral  telling  of  the  Gospel  story. 

(4)  The  celebration  of  Holy  Communion. 
Naturally  at  first  the  oral  telling  about  Jesus 

which  would  be  the  sermon  of  the  day — or  the 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  195 

reading  of  one  of  the  Epistles — would  come  under 
the  head  of  Human  Teaching.  The  little  frag- 
mentary written  Gospel  stories  would  naturally 
come  under  the  same  head,  taking  the  place  of  the 
oral  Gospel  where  no  Hving  witness  of  Jesus  could 
be  had.  And  quite  probably  the  first  three  com- 
plete Gospels  would  take  the  same  place  at  first, 
being  only  a  sort  of  written  sermon  Instead  of  an 
oral  one.  It  Is  likely  that  St.  John's  Gospel  sprang 
at  once  into  the  higher  position  of  being  read 
along  with  the  Old  Testament,  since  by  that  time 
the  written  Gospels  seemed  all  moving  up  to  that 
place. 


§  5.  There  is  evidence  for  the  belief  that  the 
Canon  of  the  Gospels  was  the  first  part  of  the  new 
Bible;  that  is  to  say  that  they  first  rose  into  the 
position  of  being  read  along  with  the  Divine 
Teaching  (the  Old  Testament).  As  the  years 
went  on  and  the  Lord  had  not  returned,  and  the 
witnesses  of  His  life  and  death  and  resurrection 
had  passed  away,  these  written  Gospels  became 
exceedingly  precious  to  the  Church.  They  were 
all  they  had  of  Jesus  in  permanent  record. 
Whether  written  by  Apostles  or  not,  men  felt  that 
they  contained  at  any  rate  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
which  surely  should  rank  higher  than  any  word  of 


196         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

Moses  or  the  Prophets.  Indeed,  men  must  in- 
evitably have  felt  that  from  the  very  first.  And 
the  sacredness  attaching  to  the  words  of  Jesus 
must  have  attached  itself  to  the  books  which  con- 
tained them.  We  should  certainly  be  right  in  say- 
ing that  this  was  the  first  step  toward  the  accepting 
of  the  Gospels  as  Bible.  So  we  are  not  surprised 
to  find  at  the  close  of  the  first  century  the  Gospels 
beginning  to  be  read  as  Scripture  in  Church  and 
quoted  authoritatively  in  letters  and  sermons  side 
by  side  with  the  words  of  the  Old  Testament 
Bible. 

By  the  silent  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
Church  the  idea  was  quietly  taking  root  of  a  new 
series  of  Divine  authoritative  documents.  The 
formation  of  the  New  Testament  had  begun. 

In  the  writings  of  the  great  Churchmen  who 
came  after  the  Apostles  we  can  trace  this  most 
Interesting  process  step  by  step.  But  I  have  no 
space  to  follow  these  separate  steps.  I  can  only 
glance  here  and  there  at  points  in  the  long  line, 
three  centuries  long,  which  ended  with  the  recog- 
nition of  the  complete  New  Testament. 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT    197 

II 

Growth    f  ^"^  ^^^^  glimpse  is  about  the  year 

Canon  in  lOO  and  just  afterwards,  about  the 
First  time  of  St.  John's  death.  Three  great 
Century.  ^^^  stand  out  prominently  in  the 
Church.  They  had  known  and  talked  with  the 
Apostles.  They  were  successors  of  the  Apostles 
In  the  rule  of  the  Church.  They  lived  far  apart 
in  the  three  provinces  of  the  Church  connected 
with  the  labours  of  St.  Peter,  St.  Paul,  and  St.  ^ 
John.  They  were  Clement  of  Rome,  Ignatius  of  { 
Antioch  and  Polycarp  of  Smyrna,  the  disciple  of 
St.  John. 

Irenaeus,  the  great  bishop  of  Lyons,  later  on 
tells  us  that  "Clement  had  seen  the  blessed  Apos- 
tles and  conversed  with  them,  and  had  the  preach- 
ing of  the  blessed  Apostles  still  sounding  In  his 
ears."  Of  Polycarp  he  says,  *'I  can  tell  the  place 
where  the  blessed  Polycarp  sat  and  taught  and 
how  he  related  his  conversations  with  John  and 
others  who  had  seen  the  Lord,  all  of  which  he  re- 
lated agreeably  to  the  Scriptures."  I  wish  there 
were  space  to  write  more  about  him.  Many 
readers  will  remember  his  touching  words  as  they 
martyred  him.  "Revile  Christ  and  you  shall  be 
free,"  cried  the  governor.    "Ah,  no,"  replied  the 


198         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

dear  old  saint;  "eighty  and  six  years  have  I 
served  Him,  and  He  has  never  done  me  wrong. 
How  can  I  blaspheme  my  King  that  saved  me?" 
Ignatius,  the  third  of  these  great  fathers,  is  best 
known  for  the  prominence  which  he  gives  to  def- 
inite Church  order  and  his  evidence  as  to  the  es- 
tablished position  of  the  Episcopate  in  the  Church 
in  his  time,  about  a.d.  107. 

But  we  are  only  concerned  with  their  evidence 
as  to  the  New  Testament.  There  is  a  noble  epis- 
tle of  Clement  to  the  Corinthians  in  which  he 
quotes  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  his  own  Roman 
Church,  as  also  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
to  whom  he  is  writing:  "Paul  wrote  you  spirit- 
ually about  himself  and  Cephas  and  Apollos  be- 
cause even  then  there  were  parties  among  you." 
He  also,  without  quoting  by  name,  makes  use  tac- 
itly of  many  expressions  which  dictate  his  famil- 
iarity with  other  of  our  New  Testament  Books, 
especially  St.  John  and  Hebrews.  Ignatius  shows 
his  knowledge  of  Corinthians,  Galatians,  and  the 
Gospel  of  St.  John.  Polycarp  in  his  one  brief 
epistle  has  allusions  to  the  Acts,  i  Peter,  i  John, 
Romans,  Corinthians,  Galatians,  Ephesians,  and 
I  Timothy. 

But  (except  Clement)  they  did  not  quote  the 
books  by  name  nor  speak  of  them  as  Scripture. 
Their  quotations  from  the  Gospels  are  sometimes 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT    199 

so  indefinite  that  one  suspects  they  may  some- 
times be  only  quoting  from  the  Oral  Gospel. 
Books  did  not  seem  to  them  so  very  important. 
Ignatius  has  one  beautiful  expression  which  bears 
on  this  point.  "I  have  heard  some  say  they  would 
believe  in  the  Gospel  only  as  they  found  it  in  the 
records.  To  people  of  that  kind  I  say,  *My  au- 
thentic records  are  Jesus  Christ  His  Cross  and 
Resurrection.'  " 

It  is  just  as  we  might  expect.  The  New  Test- 
ament writings,  though  reverenced,  are  not  yet 
thought  of  as  Scripture.  Yet  these  three  great 
Churchmen,  though  they  have  not  the  slightest 
thought  of  putting  them  into  the  Bible,  draw  a  line^ 
between  them  and  their  own  writings  as  something 
on  a  far  higher  level.  "I  cannot  write  with  au- 
thority," says  Clement,  "like  the  blessed  Paul,  \ 
who  wrote  spiritually."  "One  like  me,"  says  Poly-  ^ 
carp,  "cannot  attain  to  the  wisdom  of  the  blessed 
Paul."  "Peter  and  Paul  were  Apostles,"  says  the 
dying  Ignatius.  "I  am  but  a  poor  condemned 
man."  Thus  silently  and  slowly  in  far  separate 
parts  of  the  Church  was  beginning  the  recognition 
of  the  greatness  of  the  Scriptures. 


§  2.     Move  on  fifty  years.    Justin  Martyr  is 
a  prominent  name  in  the  Roman  Church.    He  was 


200        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

born  about  the  year  lOO,  about  the  time  that  St. 
John  died.  It  was  probably  about  the  year  140 
that  he  wrote  his  famous  "Apology'*  to  the  Em- 
peror, which  gives  a  valuable  picture  of  early 
Church  hfe.  "On  the  day  of  the  Sun  (Sunday) 
all  those  of  us  who  live  in  the  same  town  or  dis- 
trict assemble  together,  and  there  is  read  to  us 
some  part  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Apostles,  which" 
(he  says  elsewhere)  "are  called  Gospels,  and  the 
Writings  of  the  Prophets  as  much  as  time  permits. 
Thus  whoever  is  presiding  gives  us  a  sermon, 
after  which  we  rise  for  common  prayer;  after- 
wards bread  and  wine  are  brought,  etc." 

What  concerns  us  here  Is  the  explicit  statement 
that  about  forty  years  after  St.  John's  death  the 
Gospels  are  being  regularly  read  along  with  the 
Old  Testament.  Nay,  they  are  even  mentioned 
before  them  as  if  even  more  important.  This  Is 
a  clear  Indication  of  the  growing  recognition  of 
their  position  as  Scripture. 


i/^  §  3.  Twenty  years  later,  a.d.  160,  we  have 
an  Important  proof  of  the  high  position  in  the 
Church  of  our  Four  Gospels.  It  Is  a  curious 
Church  book  by  Tatlan,  a  disciple  of  Justin 
Martyr.  It  is  called  the  "DIatessaron,  or  Book 
of  the  Four,"    In  It  he  weaves  together  into  one 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  201 

continuous  story  the  narratives  of  the  four  Gos- 
pels, omitting  all  repetitions,  so  as  to  make  a 
connected  Life  of  Christ.  This  was  a  very  con- 
venient book  to  have  when  the  Gospels  were  four 
separate  rolls,  and  one  had  to  pass  from  one  to  the 
other  to  get  the  whole  story.  I  have  given  an  ex- 
tract from  it  on  page  117. 

It  was  widely  used  for  Church  reading,  espe- 
pecially  in  the  Syrian  Church  to  which  Tatian 
belonged.  In  fact  for  centuries  It  superseded 
there  the  separate  four  Gospels.  We  learn  that 
it  was  read  along  with  the  old  Testament.  A 
bishop  some  centuries  later  says  that  he  found 
two  hundred  copies  of  It  in  the  churches  of  his 
diocese  and  ordered  them  to  be  changed  for 
copies  of  the  separate  Gospels.  It  shows  at 
any  rate  that  the  Four  Gospels  were  now  stand- 
ing out  clearly  on  a  level  by  themselves  as  the 
chief  Lesson  Books  of  the  Church. 

Still  there  seems  no  thought  of  making  a 
new  Bible.  Only  carefulness  about  books  to  be 
read  in  church.  But  as  we  go  on,  we  find  more 
and  more  the  Gospels  being  read  beside  the  Law, 
and  the  Epistles  beside  the  Prophets,  the  continu- 
ing of  the  long  process  which  went  on  until  the 
whole  New  Testament  was  complete  as  "Bible." 


202        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

K  §  4.  Now  comes  a  very  important  document 
for  our  purpose,  an  old,  torn,  mutilated  frag- 
ment, date  about  170  A.D.,  discovered  several 
years  ago  in  the  Ambrosian  Library  of  Milan.  It 
is  called  the  Muratorian  Fragment,  and  contains 
at  any  rate  the  earliest  list  in  existence  of  the 
Church  books,  if  it  be  too  much  to  call  it  the  first 
known  judgment  of  the  Catholic  Church  as  to 
the  books  of  her  New  Testament. 

It  almost  certainly  must  have  been  begun  by 
mentioning  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark  as  the 
first  and  second  Gospels,  for  this  torn  piece  begins 
by  telling  us  that  "the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke,  the 
physician,  companion  of  St.  Paul,  stands  third." 
The  fourth  place  it  assigns  to  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John,  "a  disciple  of  the  Lord  who  wrote  at 
the  request  of  his  fellow-disciples  and  bishops. 
As  he  says  in  his  epistle,  'What  we  have  seen 
with  our  eyes  and  heard  with  our  ears  and  our 
hands  have  handled  of  the  Word  of  Life.'  For 
so  he  professes  that  he  was  not  only  an  eyewit- 
ness, but  also  a  hearer." 

After  the  Gospels  It  places  the  Acts.  Then 
the  thirteen  Epistles  of  Paul,  pointing  out  that 
* 'though  four  of  them,  Philemon,  Titus,  i  and 
2  Timothy,  were  written  from  personal  feeling 
and  affection,  yet  they  are  hallowed  in  the  re-* 
spect  of  the  Catholic  Church." 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  203 

"Moreover,"  it  adds,  "there  is  In  circulation 
an  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans  and  one  to  the 
Alexandrians  forged  In  Paul's  name  and  several 
others  which  cannot  be  received  In  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  Epistle  of  Jude,  however,  and  two 
with  the  name  of  John  are  held  In  the  Catholic 
Church.  We  receive  also  that  Revelation  of  John 
and  the  Revelation  of  Peter,  which  latter  some 
of  our  body  will  not  allow  to  be  read  In  Church.'* 

This  old  fragment  Is  very  valuable  not  only 
for  the  distinction  It  notes  between  our  books  of 
Scripture  and  the  other  books,  but  especially  as 
showing  that  about  seventy  years  after  the  Apos- 
tles nearly  all  our  present  New  Testament  was 
in  use  as  Scripture.  It  omits  the  Epistles  of 
James,  i  and  2  Peter,  and  Hebrews,  which  were 
not  universally  known  and  accepted  for  some  time 
after  this.  And  It  tells  of  other  books  which 
still  hung  on  the  borderland,  such  as  the  Revela- 
tion of  Peter,  etc. 


Ill 


The  Close  Three  great  Churchmen  stood  at 

of  the  beginning  of  this  century,  Clement, 

the  Second  Ignatius,  and  Polycarp.     Three  other 

entury.  gj.^^^    Churchmen    fittingly    close    It, 

who,  like  the  first  three,  lived  far  apart,   and 


204        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

thus  are  the  more  valuable  as  witnesses  to  the 
growth  of  the  New  Testament.    They  are — 

Irenaeus  of  Lyons  in  the  south  of  France. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  in  distant  Egypt. 

Tertullian  of  the  rude  church  of  Northern 
Africa. 


§  I.  Irenseus  was  a  native  of  Asia  Minor, 
was  in  close  contact  with  Rome,  and  was  (about 
1 80  A.D.)  Bishop  of  Lyons  in  Gaul;  therefore 
his  evidence  is  of  more  value  than  that  of  men 
whose  horizon  was  more  limited.  He  tells  us 
of  his  youthful  recollections  of  Smyrna  and  of 
its  great  old  bishop  Polycarp,  the  disciple  of  St. 
John.  He  remembers  where  the  old  man  used 
to  sit  and  teach,  and  how  he  spoke  of  St.  John 
and  others  who  had  seen  the  Lord,  how  he  used 
to  repeat  from  memory  what  they  told  him  about 
the  Lord,  and,  adds  Irenaeus,  "all  that  he  said 
was  in  strict  agreement  with  the  Scriptures/* 
Evidently,  then,  the  Gospels  had  now  been  firmly 
established  in  their  position  as  "Scriptures,"  and 
the  connection  of  Irenaeus  with  St.  John  through 
Polycarp  reminds  us  that  this  had  taken  place 
1  while  still  in  touch  with  that  age  when  men  lived 
who  had  known  Jesus. 

But  he  has  stronger  expressions  than  this. 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  205 

He  quotes  St.  Matthew  i.  i8,  and  says,  "The  \ 
Holy  Spirit  said  by  Matthew,  'The  birth  of  / 
Christ  was  on  this  wise,'  "  thus  asserting  his  j 
and  evidently  the  Church's  belief  in  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Gospels.  And  perhaps  stronger  still 
is  his  curious  mystical  explanation  why  the 
Gospels  are  four  and  only  four.  As  there  are 
four  chief  winds  and  four  regions  of  the  world, 
and  four  pillars  of  the  earth,  and  four  faces  to 
the  Cherubim  on  which  rested  the  Divine  presence, 
so  Christ  gave  his  Gospels  in  a  fourfold  form, 
and  on  these  four  Gospels  He  rests.  We  may 
smile  at  his  fanciful  argument,  but  his  evidence 
is  quite  clear  that  in  his  day  at  any  rate  our 
four  Gospels  and  no  others  were  recognized  by 
the  Church  at  large,  and  that  they  were  regarded 
as  the  inspired  Scriptures  of  God. 

Of  the  other  books  of  the  New  Testament 
quoted  repeatedly  as  Scripture  the  Acts,  twelve 
Epistles  of  Paul  (omitting  Philemon),  the  Rev- 
elation of  St.  John,  and  also  i  John  and  i  Peter 
and  Hebrews.  The  other  books  he  says  nothing 
about,  but  it  is  worth  notice  as  showing  that  the 
boundary-line  of  the  New  Testament  was  not 
yet  drawn,  that  he  also  quotes  as  Scripture  an 
apocryphal  book,  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas. 


206        TH3E  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

§  2.  Now  from  the  old  French  city  we  move 
far  away  to  the  East,  to  that  great  seat  of  learn- 
ing, the  city  of  Alexandria,  which  we  have  already 
seen  in  our  story  of  the  Apocrypha.  Clement, 
the  bishop,  is  a  scholar,  and  has  travelled  widely 
and  visited  many  churches.  His  master  and  pre- 
decessor, Pantaenus,  was  a  very  old  man,  and 
probably  had  known  men  who  were  friends  of 
the  Apostles.  So  Clement,  like  Irenaeus,  is  in 
touch  with  apostolic  times,  and  he  affirms  in  his 
great  book,  the  "Patchwork"  {Stromata)^  that 
his  writings  contain  "the  shadow  and  outline  of 
what  he  had  heard  from  men  who  preserved  the 
true  tradition  of  the  blessed  doctrine  directly 
from  Peter  and  James,  from  John  and  Paul,  the 
holy  Apostles." 

Here  we  have  the  oral  Gospel  and  the  written 
books  side  by  side,  and  it  must  always  be  remem- 
bered as  a  guarantee  of  accuracy  that  the  written 
Gospels  came  into  use  during  the  lifetime  of  that 
generation  who  had  known  the  Apostles  and  some 
of  whom  had  known  the  Lord  Himself. 

Clement  has  a  sentence  which  is  valuable  for 
our  purpose.  Speaking  of  one  of  the  lost  "Say- 
ings of  Jesus,"  he  says,  "We  have  not  this  saying 
in  the  four  Gospels  which  have  been  handed  down 
to  us;  it  is  found  in  the  gospel  according  to  the 
Egyptians."     Here  are  the  four  Gospels  standing 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT     207 

out  prominently  by  themselves.  Beside  the  four 
Gospels  he  quotes  the  Acts,  twelve  epistles  of 
St.  Paul  (omitting  Philemon),  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  (which  he  says  is  by  St.  Paul),  i  John, 
I  Peter,  Jude,  and  the  Revelation  of  St.  John. 
But  again  it  must  be  noted  that  he  also  quotes, 
as  inspired,  books  not  now  received — the  epistles 
of  Clement  and  Barnabas,  the  Revelation  of  Peter 
and  the  Shepherd,  thus  indicating  that  the  Church 
has  not  yet  drawn  a  line  of  demarcation  around 
its  Scriptures. 


§  3.  From  Alexandria  we  move  westward 
to  the  old  historic  Carthage.  In  the  Church  of 
that  place  is  a  presbyter  famous  in  history. 
Trained  as  a  lawyer  in  the  secular  courts,  learned, 
able,  eager  after  God  and  righteousness,  but  one 
of  those  restless,  impetuous  spirits  who  are  the 
despair  of  those  set  over  them,  and  the  whole- 
some terror  of  those  who  oppose  them.  Such 
men  are  often  valuable  champions  in  any  cause. 
Such  was  this  man  Tertullian. 

We  are  not  concerned  here  with  his  life  and 
character,  which  I  only  refer  to  because  I  want 
him  to  be  something  more  to  the  reader  than  a 
mere  name.  For  us  he  is  here  merely  as  a  wit- 
ness.   We  want  to  know  what  he  and  his  church 


208         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

thought  with  regard  to  the  growing  New  Testa- 
ment. He  tells  us  that  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul 
have  been  preserved  in  the  churches  which  he 
founded;  so,  too,  the  four  Gospels  have  been 
handed  down  to  us  in  due  succession  on  the 
authority  of  the  Apostolic  Churches.  The  next 
thing  we  find  is  that  there  is  already  a  Latin 
Version  of  the  books  in  his  Church,  for  he 
grumbles  at  it,  as  he  does  at  many  other  things. 
It  Is  a  clumsy  translation.  But  that  does  not 
matter  to  us.  See  what  it  means,  that  at  the  end 
of  the  second  century  not  only  are  the  principal 
books  of  the  New  Testament  accepted  through- 
out the  Church,  but  translations  of  them  are  al- 
ready known  and  recognized. 

Tertullian's  quotations  cover  pretty  much  the 
whole  ground  of  his  Latin  Testament,  which  con- 
tains all  our  present  books  except  the  Epistles  of 
James,  2  Peter,  and  Hebrews. 

At  this  stage,  then,  about  200  A.D.,  the  posi- 
tion of  the  New  Testament  is  practically  estab- 
lished; all  its  principal  books  are  everywhere  re- 
ceived and  used  as  Scripture.  Therefore  with 
regard  to  them  the  discussion  may  now  close. 
All  that  remains  to  be  studied  is  the  gradual 
drawing  of  the  boundary-line.  There  are  seven 
minor  books,  James,  2  Peter,  2  and  3  John,  Jude, 
Hebrews,  and  Revelation,  which  are  accepted  and 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  209 

used  In  some  churches,  but  not  universally;  and 
there  are  a  few  apocryphal  books,  such  as 
Clement,  Barnabas,  Hermas,  afterwards  omitted 
from  the  Canon  of  Scripture,  but  which  still 
hang  on  the  border.  With  regard  to  the  seven 
disputed  books,  we  must  not  exaggerate  the  posi- 
tion. The  fact  that  they  were  not  everywhere 
received  Is  sometimes  only  because  they  were 
small  and  addressed  to  private  persons,  and  there- 
fore did  not  come  much  under  the  notice  of  the 
church;  or  sometimes  because  a  book  well  known 
and  honoured  in  one  place  was  very  little  known 
in  another.  For  example,  the  epistle  to  the  He- 
brews on  this  list  was  known  and  highly  hon- 
oured In  Rome  from  the  days  of  Clement,  before 
St.  John  died.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  2  Peter 
was  suspected  as  of  doubtful  authenticity  even 
where  it  was  well  known. 

Be  It  remembered,  then,  that  we  have  no 
further  concern  except  with  these  few  questioned 
books  on  the  border-linec 


210        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 


IV 


We  pass  over  loo  years.     We  are 
The  Great  j^  the  midst  of  the  terrible  persecu- 

A.D^303"'  *^^^  ^^  *^^  Church  by  the  Emperor 
Diocletian.  Life  had  been  too  easy 
for  Christians,  and  they  became  proud  and  care- 
less. Like  a  bolt  out  of  the  blue  came  the  Im- 
perial edict  that  the  churches  should  be  razed 
to  the  ground  and  the  Scriptures  consumed  by 
fire.  All  over  the  Church  was  excitement  and 
trouble  and  fear  and  fierce,  passionate  determina- 
tion that  their  sacred  Scriptures  should  not  be 
yielded  to  the  infidel.  It  was  a  bitter  struggle, 
and  they  suffered  sorely.  "I  saw,"  says  Eusebius, 
the  great  Church  historian  (note  his  name,  for 
he  will  come  prominently  before  us  again),  *'I 
saw  with  my  own  eyes  the  houses  of  prayer 
thrown  down  and  razed  to  their  foundations  and 
the  Inspired  and  sacred  Scriptures  consigned  to 
the  fire  in  the  open  market-place."  Many  brave 
men  laid  down  their  lives  rather  than  yield  their 
Holy  Writings.  Many  others  bought  safety  by  a 
pretended  submission,  giving  up  as  Scriptures 
books  which  were  not  accepted  by  the  Church. 
These  were  hated  and  scorned  as  "traditores," 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  211 

traitors,  and  so  arose  anger  and  bitterness  and 
separations.    It  was  a  very  miserable  time. 

It  brings  back  for  us  the  similar  awful  times 
in  the  Old  Testament  days,  when  Antiochus  was 
destroying  the  Scriptures  of  the  Law.  And  in  a 
similar  way,  in  the  loving  providence  of  God, 
good  came  also  out  of  this  terrible  evil.  When 
life  was  the  price  of  preserving  the  Scriptures 
and  when  men  were  excusing  themselves  by  the 
plea  that  the  books  surrendered  were  not  really 
Scripture,  it  naturally  tended  towards  definiteness 
in  deciding  the  limits  of  the  accepted  books. 
What  books  were  "Canonical  Scriptures"  ?  What 
books  were  not?  From  this  time  forward  the 
word  Canonical  became  a  familiar  word  and 
the  wavering  border-line  tended  to  become  fixed. 

Yet,  strange  to  say,  even  at  such  a  crisis 
there  was  no  definite  concerted  action  of  the 
Church,  no  definite  synodical  statement  determin- 
ing the  exact  boundaries  of  the  New  Testament. 
For  which  we  may  be  thankful.  For  no  single 
decision  of  any  body  of  men  would  have  the 
weight  that  comes  from  the  silent  conviction  of 
many  generations  on  whose  consciences  the  Sacred 
Writings  were  winning  their  way. 


212        THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 


!        A  quarter  of  a  century  has  elapsed. 
The  First     \yg  ^j-g  y^[^)^  ^]^g  Church  in  Palestine. 

Bibles  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^  ^•^'  33^"  ^^^  place  is 
the  Scriptorium,  where  manuscripts 
were  written  in  the  library  of  Eusebius,  the 
Bishop  of  Caesarea,  the  same  Eusebius,  the  great 
Church  historian  who  has  so  lately  been  watch- 
ing the  Scriptures  burned  in  the  fire  (p.  210). 

There  is  eager  activity  amongst  the  scribes. 
Every  desk  is  occupied.  They  are  proud  men 
to-day,  for  a  high  honour  has  been  conferred 
on  the  Scriptorium  of  Caesarea.  A  letter  has 
come  from  the  Emperor  Constantine  to  the 
bishop.  He  wants  to  make  a  royal  present  to 
the  churches  of  Constantinople,  and  he  requests 
the  bishop  "that  you  bid  fifty  copies  of  the 
Divine  Scriptures  to  be  written  on  prepared  skin, 
by  skilled  scribes  who  are  well  acquainted  with 
their  craft.  For  this  purpose  orders  have  been 
issued  to  the  governor  of  the  province  to  fur- 
nish everything  required,  and  two  public  carriages 
are  to  be  employed  for  conveying  the  books  to 
the  Emperor." 

It  was  a  nice  book  order  to  get,  especially 
where  expense  did  not  matter  and  the  men  who 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  213 

loved  to  make  beautiful  books  could  spend  time 
and  money  freely.  There  was  good  reason  why 
the  order  should  come  to  Caesarea.  For  the  most 
celebrated  Christian  library  in  the  world  was 
there,  the  library  of  Pamphilus,  who  was  the 
predecessor  of  Eusebius.  We  have  some  manu- 
scripts of  later  days,  in  which  as  a  badge  of 
high  honour  the  inscription  is  in  the  margin: 
"This  has  been  compared  with  the  copy  in  Cae- 
sarea in  the  library  of  the  holy  Pamphilus.'* 

More  important  still  is  the  fact  that  the 
bishop  himself,  Eusebius,  is  a  great  biblical 
scholar,  and  has  made  wide  research  on  the 
whole  subject  of  the  accepted  and  non-accepted 
books.  Perhaps  that  day  when  he  watched  the 
burning  Scriptures  impressed  him  with  the  need 
of  investigating  the  subject  thoroughly. 

§  2.  It  Is  not  easy  to  find  out  from  his  ac- 
count what  he  exactly  believed  on  the  subject. 
Like  many  another  author  who  had  too  great 
a  plethora  of  facts  to  digest,  he  probably  could 
not  quite  make  up  his  mind.  Or,  rather,  since 
he  is  aiming  not  to  tell  his  own  opinion,  but  the 
opinion  of  the  universal  Church,  and  that  universal 
Church  had  made  no  definite  pronouncement,  he 
had  to  be  rather  vague  and  sometimes  contra- 
dictory. 


214         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

He  divided  the  writings  which  claimed  a 
place  in  Scripture  into  three  classes — 

t  (i)  The  Accepted  Books,  which  practically 
includes  the  whole  New  Testament,  the  excep- 
tions being  some  of  the  seven  books  which  I 
have  referred  to  (p.  208). 

(2)  The  Controverted  Books,  ue.  books  re- 
ceived in  some  places  and  not  in  others;  the 
Epistles  of  James  and  Jude,  2  and  3  John,  and 
2  Peter.  He  is  puzzled  and  undecided  about 
the  Book  of  Revelation,  but  on  the  whole  thinks 
it  should  be  considered  as  accepted. 

(3)  The  Suprious  Books,  in  which  he  in- 
cludes the  Epistle  of  Barnabas  and  the  Shepherd 
of  Hermas,  though  he  thinks  rather  favourably 
of  them. 

§  3.  Now  must  have  come  to  him  the  seri- 
ous question,  What  books  are  to  go  into  the 
Emperor's  Bible?  For  such  a  group  of  such 
splendid  Bibles  and  under  the  patronage  of  the 
Emperor  would  be  likely  to  have  a  considerable 
effect  on  the  usage  of  the  Churches. 

But  he  says  nothing  about  this,  nor  does  he 
tell  us  exactly  how  he  fulfilled  the  Emperor's 
order.  We  should  greatly  like  to  get  hold  of 
one  of  his  books  and  to  be  absolutely  certain  that 
it  was  one  of  them.    Naturally  in  the  discoveries 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  215 

of  ancient  manuscripts  men  have  been  looking 
for  these  Bibles.  It  has  been  conjectured/  and 
it  would  seem  with  some  reason,  that  we  have  at 
least  one  of  them,  and  perhaps  two. 

Euseblus  says  that  he  had  the  Bibles  written 
triple  and  quadruple — by  threes  and  fours — a 
puzzling  expression  which  has  been  conjectured 
to  mean  three  and  four  columns  on  a  page.  Now 
the  two  oldest  Bibles  In  the  world  are  the  Vati- 
can manuscript  In  the  Vatican  Library  at  Rome 
and  the  SInaltIc  so  romantically  discovered  by 
Dr.  TIschendorf  about  fifty  years  ago  in  the  con- 
vent of  St.  Catherine  on  Mount  Sinai,  and  these 
are  written  respectively  three  and  four  columns 
on  a  page.  Dr.  TIschendorf  believed  that  a 
certain  handwriting  in  one  of  these  appears  also 
In  the  other,  which,  if  so,  would  look  as  if  they 
came  from  the  same  Scriptorium.  The  Sinaltic 
shows  the  marks  of  several  correctors,  and  one 
of  these,  supposed  to  be  about  the  seventh  century, 
has  written  after  the  books  of  Ezra  and  Esther: 
"This  has  been  compared  with  a  very  old  copy 
collated  by  the  hand  of  the  holy  martyr  Pamphl- 
lus,  which  at  the  end  has  the  subscription  .  .  . 
I,  Pamphilus  corrected.'"     Evidently,  therefore, 

iCf.   Gregory,  "Canon   and  Text,"   p.   327.     Souter,   "Text 
and  Canon,"  p.  22. 
2  Souter,  p.  2j, 


216         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

this  manuscript  must  in  the  seventh  century  have 
been  at  Caesarea,  where  Eusebius'  Bibles  were 
made. 

Now  if  this  be  really  one  of  Eusebius'  Bibles, 
it  is  a  valuable  find  in  this  investigation.  For 
it  contains  exactly  our  present  New  Testament 
Books,  and  at  the  end  of  them  the  two  apocry- 
phal books,  Barnabas  and  Hermas,  which  from 
their  position  look  as  if  they  were  regarded  as 
an  appendix.  The  Vatican  Manuscript,  having 
lost  all  the  pages  after  Heb.  ix.  14,  is  no  use  at  all 
for  our  purpose,  even  if  it  be  one  of  the  Emperor's 
Bibles. 


VI 


Thirty  years  later.  It  is  Easter 
Athanashis  D^y,  a.D.  365,  in  the  city  of  Alex- 
andria. In  all  the  churches  of  the 
city  the  clergy  are  reading  to  their 
people  the  Easter  Pastoral  Letter  of  their  great 
archbishop  Athanasius,  the  champion  who  saved 
the  Church  from  heresy.  Every  year  he  has 
issued  his  Pastoral,  but  this  year  It  is  especially 
noteworthy  for  its  clear,  definite  pronouncement 
about  the  Canonical  Scriptures : 


and 
Jerome. 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  217 

"I  shall  use  for  the  support  of  my  boldness,"  says  the  Arch- 
bishop, "the  model  of  the  evangelist  Luke  and  say  as 
he  does,  Forasmuch  as  some  have  taken  in  hand  to  set 
forth  in  order  for  themselves  the  so-called  Apocrypha 
and  to  mix  these  with  the  inspired  Scriptures,  which  we 
most  surely  believe,  even  as  they  delivered  it  to  our 
fathers,  which  from  the  beginning  were  eye-witnesses  and 
ministers  of  the  Word ;  it  seemed  good  to  me  also  having 
been  urged  by  true  brethren  ...  to  publish  the  books 
which  are  admitted  in  the  canon,  and  have  been  delivered 
unto  us,  and  are  believed  to  be  divine,  etc." 

Then,  after  giving  a  full  list  of  the  Old 
Testament  Books,  relegating  the  Apocrypha  to 
a  sort  of  appendix,  he  turns  to  give  a  list  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  this  list  is  exactly  that 
of  our  New  Testament  to-day, 

§  2.  We  now  move  from  the  churches  of 
Palestine  and  Egypt  to  the  church  In  the  centre 
of  the  civilized  world  at  Rome — and  from  the 
great  scholars  and  churchmen  Eusebius  and 
Athanasius  to  the  still  greater  scholar  and  church- 
man, Jerome.  In  383,  at  the  request  of  Pope 
Damasus,  he  began  the  revision  of  the  "old 
Latin"  New  Testament,  the  beginning  of  the 
work  which  is  his  monument  for  ever,  the  great 
Vulgate  Bible.  It  was  called  Vulgate  or  com- 
mon when  it  became  the  common  Bible  of  the 
Western  Church.  For  1000  years  it  was  practi- 
cally the  Bible  of  all  Europe;  therefore  when  we 


218         THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  MAKING 

say  that  the  Books  af  its  New  Testament  are 
exactly  what  we  have  to-day^  we  may  consider 
our  Inquiry  closed  as  to  the  growth  of  the  Canon. 
The  question  as  to  what  Books  should  constitute 
the  New  Testament  will  never  be  opened  again. 

So  we  close  our  story  of  the  Making  of  the 
Bible.  In  one  sense  it  has  shown  us  that  the 
Church  made  the  Bible.  The  Church  by  her 
great  sons  received  the  Inspired  words;  the 
Church  through  many  ages  decided  Its  contents. 
But  I  trust  It  has  shown  more  clearly  the  awe- 
inspiring  truth  that  the  Bible  was  made  for  man 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  He  It  was  who  gave 
the  holy  words  to  His  Church.  He  It  was  who 
by  His  silent  Influence  on  that  Church  decided 
what  Its  contents  should  be.  Surely  It  was  no 
chance  that  made  the  Canon  of  Scripture.  For 
If  anything  Is  clearly  taught  by  this  story  It  is 
this,  which  I  said  at  Its  beginning,  that  the  Canon 
of  Scripture  was  formed  not  suddenly  by  some 
startling  miracle,  not  officially  by  some  decision 
of  Synod  or  Bishop  or  prophet  or  saint,  but 
slowly,  gradually,  half  unconsciously,  by  the 
quiet  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  minds  of 
men  in  the  Church.  'The  Bible  was  formed  even 
as  the  Church  Itself  was  formed,  by  that  Holy 
Spirit  who  was  the  life  of  both.' 


THE  CANON  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  219 

God  made  the  Bible.  God  made  the  Old 
Testament.  God  made  the  New.  And  when 
*'m  the  fulness  of  time  God  sent  forth  His  Son" 
His  hand  united  them.  At  His  feet  they  touched 
each  other.  The  Old  Bible  is  the  preparation 
for  Him.  The  New  is  the  interpretation  of 
Him.  Let  no  man  neglect  the  Old  because  of 
present-day  difficulties.  Let  no  man  neglect  the 
Old  because  the  New  is  higher.  They  belong 
to  each  other  and  are  dependent  on  each  other. 
The  whole  Bible  is  as  one  great  Temple  2000 
years  in  building.  "The  Old  Testament  is  the 
nave  with  its  side  aisles  of  psalm  and  prophecy; 
and  the  Gospels  as  the  choir,  the  last  Gospel 
perhaps  the  very  sanctuary,  while  around  and 
behind  are  the  Epistles  and  the  Apocalypse,  each 
a  gem  of  beauty,  each  supplying  an  indispensable 
feature  in  the  majestic  whole."^  God  give  us 
grace  to  use  it! 

Blessed  Lord  who  hast  caused  all  holy  Scrip- 
tures to  be  written  for  our  learning;  Grant  that 
we  may  in  such  wise  hear  them,  read,  mark, 
learn  and  inwardly  digest  them,  that  by  patience, 
and  comfort  of  thy  holy  Word,  we  may  embrace 
and  ever  hold  fast  the  blessed  hope  of  everlasting 
life  which  thou  hast  given  us  in  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.  Amen. 
1  Canon  Liddon* 


By  Author  of  ''HOW  WE  GOT  OUR  BIBLE'' 


By  J.  PATERSON-SMYTH 

The  Gospel  of  the  Hereafter 


Cloth,  $1.00  net 
The  Examiner  commends  it  strongly : 

"A  dispassionate  study  of  immortality.  The  teach- 
ings of  the  Bible  are  carefully  examined,  and  he  is  not 
ashamed  to  own  his  ignorance  where  the  Bible  is  silent. 
It  is  a  bold,  honest,  heroic  book.  He  believes  and  can 
reason  in  faith  and  hope.  The  book  is  pre-eminently 
worth  while,  and  because  of  this  it  is  commended.  It  is 
adapted  to  make  one  think,  feel  and  act." 

The  Presbyterian  Advance  finds  it  vital: 

"The  average  man  of  today,  finding  the  traditional 
ideas  of  the  hereafter  crude  and  unsatisfactory,  has 
brushed  aside  all  consideration  of  the  future  life  as  be- 
ing beyond  the  reach  of  knowledge,  or  even  of  definite, 
well-founded  opinion.  Dr.  Smyth's  experience  as  a 
cure  has  been  such  as  to  compel  him  to  make  a  thorough 
study  of  what  has  been  revealed  concerning  this  which 
is  of  such  vital  importance  to  us  all,  especially  to  all  who 
have  suffered  bereavement.  The  book  is  calculated  to 
give  us  a  much  more  vital  human  interest  in  those  whom 
we  have  loved,  and  lost  awhile." 


—  Published  by  — 

FLEMING    H.    REVELL    COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  CHICAGO  TORONTO 


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